Chapter 8
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: 7. Horrific Illusion
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Academy life wasn't half bad.
Was it the connection between you and me?
Hmm, whatever. It was just a fresh feeling. Life as Yoo Eun-ha. I'd been doing pretty well in both the original story and at the academy.
To escape the heroine role somehow, I'd also drilled it into Han Su-ji's head that I was a lesbian.
Sure enough, no matter how I thought about it, I just couldn't accept a guy. Of course, her sudden fake-friendliness after that was annoying as hell. But since it was a dream, I let it slide.
That's when the weird stuff started happening.
I glanced out the window, then scanned the classroom.
Over by those desks, I spotted something like a black doll. A black silhouette, maybe?
It was wriggling around, but my gut told me it wasn't a ghost.
For one thing, the original story wasn't some horror thriller, and Yoo Eun-ha hadn't done anything to earn that kind of grudge.
So what the hell was it?
I asked some academy friends in the dream about it.
"Looks like a spirit to me??"
"If it's a spirit, wouldn't it make sense for you—who handles spirits—to see it?"
"Huh, yeah, you're right. Are they here too?"
"Yeah, one's shaking its head in front of the lectern. Looks like it's dozing off."
Its posture was a bit sloppy. Like it was sitting on an invisible chair, nodding off with a bobblehead motion.
If Reina—who could see spirits as a second-generation otherworlder—couldn't spot it, did that mean it really was a ghost?
"Then maybe it's a constellation?"
"A constellation?"
"Yeah. My constellation told me. There are all kinds, including some dingy ones."
Dingy? That thing was way past dingy.
Like black smoke? If that's a constellation, I'd flat-out refuse the incarnation spot.
Yeah, first one thing, now another—this had to be a dream.
How else could something that bizarre exist?
"...Oh, I thought it was black smoke, but that's a suit."
What can I say? The dingy thing was gradually taking shape.
The weird, gloomy constellation I'd been seeing since the weekend was starting to feel familiar.
Like an eyelash stuck in your eye. Once I thought, 'That gloomy thing has always been part of my life,' it got easier to ignore.
I still couldn't see its face, but it'd evolve eventually.
There was one more problem, though.
"Hey. Um, want something to eat? My treat."
"Uh, sure. Smoothie, then."
Flame Spear Harlot Han Su-ji was going full fake-bff mode. To be precise, she was playing my boyfriend.
There's a saying: eat the sweet, spit the bitter.
Han Su-ji had definitely been a nasty bitch early on, but the way she was acting now? She seemed ripe for sucking dry.
No way it was just because of that kiss.
Or did she want another beating?
She came back with a strawberry smoothie, so I slurped it down.
"Hey, Han Su-ji."
"Yeah?"
"If something like black smoke only you could see appeared in front of you—what would you do? If it wasn't a spirit or constellation."
"A ghost?"
"What do you think I'm saying?"
"W-Wait. Th-Then maybe an illusion? Or a hallucination? You know, something like that. Oh, and the illusion instructor's coming today, right?"
Ah, illusions. Yeah, that person existed.
Never thought I'd miss hellish Korean school life.
I had a rough idea.
"Who's that?"
"Rebecca of Illusions. A comrade of the Divine Sword who was key in dismantling the Villain Union in the past."
Villain Union. A group from the previous work, subjugated by Yoo Jin-seok and his allies, only for remnants to open a massive gate in Pyongyang. They helped Yoo Jin-seok and crew grow from mid-to-late story.
Among them, Rebecca the Illusion Mage was one of the rare illusion specialists. She'd trapped the Villain Union in illusions for a mass takedown.
Yeah. She might know what that gloomy thing was.
Rebecca of Illusions was currently vying for top spot among magic-type hunters, specializing in illusions.
With a figure like that as our instructor, us hopeful hunter cadets were cheering like crazy.
Reina was no exception.
"Yoo Eun-ha! I-I'm a huge fan of Instructor Rebecca!"
"Ah, okay."
And?
"A fan, you know?"
"What, do I need to know about your fangirl crap too?"
"Yoo Eun-ha. Aren't you the Divine Sword's little sister? Can't you pull strings for Rebecca Instructor's autograph?"
"If I've got time."
"Promise?"
Ugh, annoying.
"I'm Rebecca, in charge of teaching you brats magic. Some of you know who I am, but if anyone wastes my time screwing around, I'll curse the boys with eternal impotence and the girls with lifelong menstrual hell."
Fuck, that's brutal.
Imagine prime-age guys who wanna stick it anywhere suddenly neutered. And periods? No need to explain.
"My class teaches magic to magic majors and anti-magic tactics to the rest. No questions, I assume."
Gotta ask her right after class.
"Alright, here's what you'll do. We're starting with magic resistance training. Today we'll do group resistance drills, then split into sections next time."
"What exactly are illusions?"
"Good question. I'm gonna show you kids—whose blood's barely dry after a measly decade-plus of life—the worst illusions you could barely imagine."
Worst unimaginable illusions from a decade-plus life? Sounds promising.
Yoo Eun-ha, the shut-in gamer. The corporate slave grinding heavy labor half-enslaved. Anything worse?
At least it'll end early and give free time. Lucky.
"What illusion did you get? I nearly died in a restricted dungeon."
That one's a prankster,
"Mine was getting circumcised again."
That one lived so happily their worst pain was circumcision.
What more to say?
Rebecca's scamming us.
Not unimaginable horrors—just recreating our buried traumatic memories.
I don't know what original Yoo Eun-ha saw, but she ragged on her brother hard.
Maybe relived fighting over sending her to the academy.
"Next up: top elites of this class, Yoo Eun-ha, Choi Si-woo, Reina."
I'm chill. My worst nightmares? Corporate slavery or whining as Yoo Eun-ha. That's it.
...
......
"Wha? Uwaaaaaah!"
Here and there, buzzcut kids like me lay neatly in bunks.
Oh God, no. The army?
For a while, that nightmare dragged on. First day of enlistment looped for about an hour. Same scene over and over.
"Fuck. Nearly died."
The illusion ended.
Overkill. Military enlistment? Big deal.
Next: collapsing from overtime and fieldwork at the company. Then Yoo Eun-ha memories. Whining to bro as expected.
The real problem came after.
"Huh? Ah?"
I blinked, and in one corner of my vision, silver-haired Choi Si-woo swung his holy sword.
Opponent: weird black doll.
Ah. The academy monster attack?
This was when Yoo Eun-ha got an SS-rank core shoved in her and died.
My body wouldn't move.
I wanted to, but it was recreating that exact moment.
Kwachik!
The demon fighting Choi Si-woo suddenly closed in and jammed a monster core into my chest.
"Kek!"
"Better to gamble than let the Divine Sword Hero take it. Endure the pain, reborn anew—or this academy's done. Keuk!"
The monster jammed the core with all its might into me, then offed itself.
That instant, agony ripped from my core outward—flesh and bone tearing, reforming—as my vision flashed.
This was definite death.
My body rejected the monster core and died.
And this death repeated endlessly, in countless ways.
Sometimes shoved while locked in a bathroom, sometimes after kidnapping.
Over and over.
I just kept screaming nonstop.
"Kyaa. Haaaah! Heuk. Aaaaaaah!"
Yoo Eun-ha clutched her chest, writhing all over.
Without the screams, it might've looked seductive—but her face desperately proved otherwise.
"Damn it! What the hell did you do to Yoo Eun-ha?!"
"You trying to kill Yoo Eun-ha or something?"
Students who seemed like her friends burst in, yapping loud enough to ring her ears.
"Rebecca! You bitch! What did you do to Eun-ha?!"
Her homeroom teacher Kim Ji-hye straight-up grabbed Rebecca's collar.
"I did it by the book! I figured she'd snap out easy—worst case, fighting with Jin-seok!"
"You lying for real?"
"Why would I lie? It's Jin-seok's sister. If anything, I went easy..."
"You, a magic prof, playing favorites with kids?"
"What do you want! You bat bitch!"
After ages of screams and groans, Yoo Eun-ha got piggybacked by Choi Si-woo straight to the nurse's office.
"Body's fine otherwise. She'll wake up once it passes."
Good. Choi Si-woo and Reina—who'd arbitrarily made themselves her friend and rival—sighed in relief.
Then immediately glared at Rebecca.
"Instructor, what happened? Please explain honestly!"
Rebecca scratched her head furiously.
This is why kids with wet-behind-the-ears heads are a pain.
"I'll explain after checking on Yoo Eun-ha."
Rebecca looked down at Yoo Eun-ha with a bitter expression.
Kim Ji-hye, not missing that look, sidled up after Choi Si-woo and Reina left.
"What's with you? You're acting weird. Something up with Yoo Eun-ha? You really do it by the book?"
"Kim Ji-hye. This is definitely Yoo Eun-ha, right? No, because it is her, that's why."
Yeah. It was Yoo Eun-ha. But still, too many things didn't add up.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"You know illusion magic's visible to drinkers too, right?"
"Yeah."
"So why's she seeing herself die hundreds of times in different ways?"
Why? Illusions pull from experiences—why hundreds for her? Stopped counting midway.