A Melody for the Threshold of Sorrow
I said the words, but I didn’t start singing right away. The guitar was being passed around in a fixed order, and my turn hadn’t come yet. I could only fidget with my fingers and wait. Sitting there with my mouth shut, staring blankly into space, I could hear the students’ voices rising in song.
“Playing is the best! Gather with friends…”
“Ethics is a tattoo on our hearts…”
“Don’t even imagine putting your hand on a hot iron…”
The children belted out their passionate, off-key anthems while the professors clapped along in encouragement. Laughter and applause wove through the music, making the melody feel richer, fuller. …Not bad.
Caught up in the lively atmosphere, a faint smile slipped out before I could stop it. The gentle curve of my lips felt strangely awkward. Afraid someone might notice, I quickly wiped the expression away and smoothed my face back into stiffness. I ran a hand down my mouth and rolled my eyes for no particular reason.
Tap. Tap.
My wandering gaze landed on the bonfire. The flames greedily devoured the firewood, casting a warm glow that shimmered softly even beneath the pitch-black night sky. Like a shattered fragment of the sun.
“……”
The cool autumn air was gently warmed by the fire’s heat. The moon and stars stood beside the darkness, watching over us. I took a quiet moment to appreciate the serene backdrop.
While I was lost in thought, the guitar finally made its way back to me.
“Hey, you bastard. It’s your turn.”
“Yeah.”
It seemed I was the last one. Everyone—including Gold Tae-yang and Maharet—had already taken their turns. For the record, Gold Tae-yang had sung one of the trendiest street songs currently popular in the capital. Surprisingly, it was pretty decent. A melodic Gold Tae-yang… somehow that felt horrifying. Maharet, on the other hand, had chosen something a bit older. As for how it sounded… I’ll refrain from commenting, for the sake of protecting the young lady’s image.
“You know how to play, right?”
“More or less.”
“So… what are you going to sing?”
“What am I going to sing, huh… Good question.”
I tapped the body of the guitar in response to Gold Tae-yang’s question. In truth, I had already decided on the song from the very beginning. There was only one song I could actually perform properly. And it was the only one I wanted to sing.
“I’ve chosen what I’m going to sing.”
“What is it?”
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you.”
It was music from my previous life. From the modern world. There was no way the people living in this world would recognize it. This was the song I had first listened to on Changho-hyung’s recommendation. It was also my favorite song of all time. The one that had helped me endure the most difficult period of my life.
I lightly plucked the strings, beginning the accompaniment. A rich resonance traveled through my fingertips in time with my gently moving fingers. As the somber melody settled the mood, my eyes briefly met Maharet’s. Her crimson gaze was swirling with complicated emotions. I offered her an awkward smile and sang the first verse.
“Crossing the threshold makes me dizzy.”
“It’s my comfortable boundary line.”
“It only disturbs my heart; useless emotions I set aside are covered in dust.”
“Leaving this place means death. I hate unfamiliar happiness more than familiar sorrow.”
“I’m afraid I’ll become worn-out shoes with no steps left to take.”
“The world, the years, the people—they break me in and wear me.”
My voice rang out over the darkness alongside the guitar’s melody. The calm tone filled the air and saturated the night. I sang the notes slowly, without rushing.
“Do I even deserve to be happy?”
“Why do I sink so deeply even into shallow wounds?”
“Living is a rain of arrows for everyone, but why is the target stuck to my heart so big?”
The chatter among the students gradually died down. The noisy kids fell silent one by one, turning their eyes toward me. My voice created silence, and I filled that silence once again with my voice.
“Emotions race to opposite extremes.”
“My slow steps fall behind, breathless, unable to grasp my own heart.”
“I lose sight of the world. Happiness is only a few steps ahead, yet I raise the stairs one level at a time by myself.”
I could feel their gazes. From the side, from the front, from behind. It seemed everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch me. The excessive attention felt burdensome, so I quietly closed my eyes. By now the song had reached its highlight.
“Now I cry without tears.”
“I just cry like I’m breathing.”
“The sorrow that has become my home.”
“Even when I try to take one step out, I cry at the threshold.”
With every line, my chest ached. Heat spread behind my eyes, and my throat tightened painfully. I took a short breath and forced down the surging emotions. In the hollow space of my ears, a scene from a longed-for past flickered by.
“Huh? What am I doing? Mm… I was just listening to a song.”
“Want to hear it once?”
“It’s a song I always play when I’m struggling.”
It was the song Changho-hyung had shown me. The only person who had tried to save me from my gutter-like life had engraved this melody into me. Even though hyung had disappeared. Even though he had eventually lost everything and left. His trace still remained with me.
“In the sorrow that has become my home, I invite you.”
“In the sorrow that has become my home, may I invite you?”
I squeezed my closed eyes shut and stubbornly continued the song. Until this bitter recollection of solitude came to an end.
“……”
Maharet stood frozen, completely entranced. She was quietly chewing over the heavy lyrics that had reached her ears.
The sorrow that has become my home.
Even when I try to take one step out, I cry at the threshold.
It was a story about someone who, fleeing from a world that drove them relentlessly, pushed themselves deeper into familiar sorrow. The narrator was sinking—not just calmly, but into a grief that now felt like home. At the same time, they were slowly drowning. The content was heavy enough to leave any listener with a profound, weighty impression.
The girl found herself staring at the boy who was singing. His face was as expressionless as always, yet for some reason she had the illusion that tears were swirling around him.
…Why?
Why did the boy produce such a heartbreaking tone? What was so painful that he would sing lyrics like these?
Maharet suddenly remembered the moment just before the song began, when her eyes had met Raiden’s. The boy who had stiffened for a second before offering a bitter smile. It was as if he were saying it now—Please don’t hate me too much.
“……”
Maharet bit her lip, feeling her mind grow tangled and chaotic. Indescribable emotions swirled inside her. Into a heart that had been filled only with hatred and contempt, a tiny speck of doubt began to bloom. It slowly grew larger. In the end, Maharet could not tear her eyes away from Raiden until the song was over.
Ding… Thud.
The moment I set the guitar down after the resonance had faded, I sensed something strange. The students who had been chatting pleasantly among themselves before the song began were now completely silent, staring at me with piercing eyes.
“……?”
What the…? Why are they reacting like this? Did I sing that badly?
I shrank back a little and glanced around. But looking at the children’s faces, it didn’t seem like that at all. If anything, it was the opposite. Their expressions looked moved, almost touched. Most of the students were watching me with moist eyes. A few were even sniffling.
“……”
Did it… end well?
I stroked my chin, feeling uncertain. That was when a familiar mechanical sound rang out.
My Melody to You
📍 Effect: Academy students’ favorability toward you has increased by 200.
🎁 Reward: 500 Points have been immediately granted.
“Looks like it ended well…”
Only after the status window appeared could I finally breathe a sigh of relief. I swiped away the blue windows floating in the air and stretched. Perhaps because the final event had concluded, it was already past midnight. The brightly burning bonfire had died down, leaving only faint reddish embers. I stood up with a small yawn, my body heavy with fatigue.
The other students were also leaving their seats and heading toward the tents. I was about to follow them to our group’s tent when Maharet brushed past me. She looked at me for a moment with an unreadable gaze, then turned her head and walked toward the tent. I followed behind her with awkward steps.
As that brief, awkward silence lingered, Gold Tae-yang slipped between us.
“What, everyone going to sleep now?”
To the cheeky bastard’s question, I answered simply.
“It’s late. We have activities tomorrow too, so we should turn in.”
“Then~ I guess I’ll go sleep too~?”
“Yeah.”
“In the tent… Violet’s probably already asleep, right?”
“She went in first, so yeah, probably.”
We exchanged casual words as we walked. After leaving the forest where the campfire had been held, we spotted a large four-person tent set up ahead. We entered carefully so as not to wake Violet, who was likely already sleeping inside.
At that same moment, on the opposite side of the island, in a field known as the Grave of Stars—the burial ground where knights who had given their lives during the ancient war against the demon race were laid to rest.
Something was stirring in the cemetery lined with dozens of tombstones.
Rumble… Crack, crunch…
The soil beneath the gravestones twisted and writhed like living creatures. A sinister black aura flickered, wrapping around the surrounding air. At the center of that ominous scene stood an old man.
Cloaked entirely in a black robe, the old man held a grotesquely shaped book. He stretched his hand toward the graves on the ground, muttering incomprehensible words.
“I call again upon the souls of the dead, and beyond death, I shall ring the bell…”
A spine-chilling voice flowed through the air. It was a horrifying sound, as if every scream and wail in the world had been compressed into one.
“I seek to revive the bodies of noble heroes and devour their rightful blood and flesh…”
Cross the river of death and ascend the path of eternal death.
“…And fulfill my long-cherished wish.”
Dark energy swirled from the old man’s hand. Black, filthy droplets fell from his fingertips and slowly seeped into the graves. The old man opened the book he was holding, cut his finger, and let a single drop of blood fall onto its pages. The droplet swelled, then turned pitch black. At the same time, the dark aura enveloping the tombstones began to glow with a crimson light and pulsate wildly.
The old man whispered quietly toward the spectacle.
“In the name of the great Demon King, Lugetina Tov di Atrahasis. By the authority of his third servant, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Pyren…”
Rise, O knights.
The dead awaken.
The instant the old man finished the final sentence, a single hand burst through the earth.
Crunch. Crack! Crunch!
Countless hands followed, clawing their way out of the graves. The warriors who had bravely fought the demon race a thousand years ago were being reborn as death knights.
“Before welcoming the Demon King’s resurrection… these will make excellent sacrifices.”
The old man looked down at the dozens of undead kneeling before him and cackled. Hul-hul.
“Master, give us your command.”
One of the death knights at the very front bowed its head and spoke. The old man, eyes gleaming with a sinister light, commanded.
“Kill every human on this island.”
“As you wish.”
The knights immediately drew their weapons. Pyren cackled once more and muttered to himself like a madman.
“O Demon King… the day I finally greet you is not far off.”
The next moment, the old man had vanished. All that remained were the death army that had been ordered to annihilate everything.
Clank. Clank…
The heavy footsteps of the knights echoed across the night sky. And the destination of those reaper-like steps was, of course… the base camp of Reynolds Academy.