Waking Up as a Schoolgirl in Hell
Th... that's not it.
A girl slumped onto a rickety bench, its paint peeling away and rusty nails slyly working themselves loose. She scanned her surroundings warily.
The brown school uniform she wore, along with the blue plastic name tag pinned to her breast pocket, revealed she was still just a student.
"This is driving me crazy...."
Clutching a pink bunny backpack that oddly mismatched her apparent age, the girl cautiously lifted her head and shifted her gaze to the people walking along the sidewalk.
A salaryman in a crisp suit, phone pressed to his ear, hurrying along.
Someone out for a stroll, slowly walking a dog on a leash.
Others dressed like her in school uniforms, heading somewhere.
Perfectly ordinary people passed by her in droves.
"What the hell do I do...?"
Truth be told, the girl wasn't a local resident.
She had clearly fallen asleep at home, only to wake up moments later sitting in this unfamiliar place.
Truth be told, she wasn't a student either.
She was an adult who had already graduated university and was preparing for a job.
Truth be told, she wasn't even a girl.
She was someone who had finished military service, attended university, done student reservist training, and had regular reservist duty scheduled for this year.
"I wanna go home...!"
And finally, the people the girl was watching weren't ordinary at all.
They dressed like normal folks, but one had arms dangling down past their knees, another a neck that looked at least thirty centimeters long—subtly deviating from the norm.
That alone might pass as just unusual builds, but the real kicker, the biggest problem, was where their faces should be: instead of distinct features, mouths crammed full of eel-like teeth.
The moment she opened her eyes and saw those grotesque figures, she nearly screamed, but managed to clamp her mouth shut, avoiding their attention.
Since then, she had just sat frozen, unable to do anything.
What if she stood up or wandered and they noticed? What if waiting a bit made her wake from this dream? What if she was dead and in hell?
Denying the reality before her eyes, she squeezed them shut and muttered to herself for a long while before peeking again, just in case.
Same place. Same freaks.
"Hngh...."
Whether due to this new body or her original personality, she found herself sniffling uncontrollably.
Then, spotting someone across the road slipping into an alley, she bolted upright.
"Wha... wha?!"
Though distant, this person had no freakishly long limbs or neck, and a face with clear features instead of jagged teeth—she spotted it instantly.
Slinging her pink backpack over her shoulders, she dashed to the crosswalk.
Mid-run, feeling eyes on her, she frantically covered her face with both arms and bolted across against the signal.
She plunged into the alley, chasing the figure's back deeper and deeper.
Then, rounding a corner, something flew straight at her face.
"Eeeek!"
"Wha, shit, what the—?!"
A man's startled voice rang out as the incoming metal pipe halted a hair's breadth from her face.
Stumbling back, she fell hard on her butt, tears welling up as she opened her mouth.
"P-please... spare meee...."
"Ah, no, hey, you're human? S-sorry, really. I thought those things were chasing me... Hey, hey, don't cry, stop!"
"Eeeek!"
The man extended a hand as if to help her up, but she couldn't bring herself to take it.
She, who never shed a tear even during the cheesiest melodrama sob-fests, was now bawling over a mere scare—mortifying.
So embarrassing... Why am I like this?!
Whatever she was thinking, from the man's perspective, he had just threatened an ordinary schoolgirl.
Scratching the back of his head apologetically, he slung the pipe over his shoulder and beckoned her to follow.
"Uh, miss? Don't worry, come with me. There are others gathered, not just me."
"Um, excuse me...?"
"Yeah?"
"Where... is this place...?"
"Uh... I dropped in here myself a few days ago, so I don't know much. Feels like one of those weird worlds that's been on the news the past few years, though."
"A few years?!"
Racking her brain, she recalled no such news about bizarre places.
Her puzzled reaction made the man counter with surprise instead.
"What, you don't know? Y'know, people vanishing one day and coming back babbling about monsters and ghosts, and just recently the government officially confirmed they exist."
"I have no idea...."
"Oh, wait... are you one of those kids buried in college entrance exam prep, totally oblivious to the world? Poor thing, exams aren't everything."
"Uh...."
They reached a small building of unfinished concrete walls and rusted metal scraps.
He rhythmically knocked on the firmly shut door.
F足steps sounded inside, followed by a small voice.
"Injun hyung?"
"Yeah, it's me. Got one more with me."
"Shit, food's already scarce and you brought another?"
"What was I supposed to do, leave her?"
The door creaked open slowly, revealing a young man with a gaunt, weary face.
"High schooler? Fuck, just another mouth to feed."
"Cut it out. She didn't ask to come here."
"Tch."
The young man clicked his tongue and stepped inside.
Injun apologized on his behalf and followed.
Hesitating, glancing around nervously, the girl trailed after them.
Inside, a fire crackled in a hole-riddled drum barrel at the center, surrounded by blankets in a circle.
Injun gestured for her to step away from the door, then wedged a rusty metal chair under the handle to secure it.
"You made it back? Find any food?"
"The convenience store I scouted earlier—everything spoiled. Grabbed a few cans and bottled water, that's it."
A woman crouched by the drum stood and approached, eyeing Injun's bag before extending a hand to the girl.
"New face! I'm Seo-a—Lee Seo-a!"
"I'm Kim... uh... um...."
About to give her real name, the girl remembered her current form.
Say her birth name and admit she was originally a man, an adult? Risk weird looks?
Lie and pass it off?
They'd find out eventually—better confess her plight now?
But this wasn't her world, nor theirs. A "normal" schoolgirl suddenly claiming to be a man from another world might look like a monster mimicking a student without the memories.
She clamped her mouth shut and glanced at the name tag on her chest.
"Kim... Arin...."
"Arin! Nice!"
Luckily, the tag read a Kim surname too, making it less awkward.
Seo-a beamed brightly, sensing nothing off.
"The uncle who came with you runs a hardware store—Injun! That guy sulking in the corner's a college student, Gyeongmin! Oh, and I'm just a company drone!"
"I see...."
"And since you're probably wondering—we don't know how to get out either. Those weirdos outside can't see well, so daytime's fine if you stay quiet and don't poke around. But night? They go berserk, so hush."
Seo-a, preempting Arin's unasked question, patted the blanket she sat on, inviting her to join.
"No extra blankets, so share with me for now."
"Um... I...."
"No need to be shy! Oh, anything in that bag? Textbooks? Useless weight here—burn 'em for fuel, don't hold back."
Face burning at the thought of snuggling a stranger, Arin set down the pink bag she'd been mindlessly carrying and unzipped it.
Inside: textbooks that screamed "student," a few notebooks, and a pencil case with a matching bunny charm.
Wondering if they held clues to her transformation, Arin pulled them out and flipped through.
Just scribbles—unreadable doodles.
She stacked them by the drum.
"Whoa... your handwriting's a disaster."
"Why are you even looking?!"
"Bored!"
Not hers, no memory of it, but her body reacted—embarrassment itching unbearably.
Snatching the notebook from Seo-a's hands, Arin hurled it into the flames.
"Ahaha, sorry sorry!"
"Eek...!"
"Alright, sun's setting—everyone quiet now. Gotta survive another night."
Injun, quietly wrapping tape around his pipe beside the bickering pair, checked the sky through the window, locked it tight, and spoke.
Seo-a swiftly pulled out a blanket, spread it, and lifted one end toward Arin with a meaningful glance—come here.
She whispered softly.
"...Ignore anyone knocking at night. No normal person wanders freely after dark."
"They won't force their way in...?"
"You got the mandatory survival training, right? Monsters in these worlds always follow rules. From what we've seen, they can't open a closed door without permission."
Arin nodded, memorizing: stay silent after sunset; this world makes survival rules standard education.
Please let me wake up at home....
Chanting her wish inwardly, eyes closed, focusing on the crackling fire to soothe her anxiety, Arin nearly drifted off—
—when a sound jolted her awake.
The door knocking Seo-a had warned about.
The others twitched too, awake, but no one stirred or spoke.
A voice—man or woman?—drifted between the knocks.
Eyes squeezed shut, Arin prayed the thing outside would lose interest and leave.
Then another voice made her snap her head up in shock.
For a split second, she thought bluff—but a slow click from the turning doorknob confirmed it.
The others jolted upright too.
As Arin threw off the blanket and grabbed her bag, the securing chair scraped, inching aside.
The door rattled violently, the chair sliding bit by bit.
Twisted, jointed fingers wriggled through the widening gap—like a signal to run now.