Chapter 1
Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: The Day the Suppressor Broke
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tap, tap.
The crisp sound of hard-soled shoes echoed regularly down the corridor. Even though it was the day I was leaving the academy, there wasn’t the slightest hint of agitation.
It just felt like, oh, so this is happening to me.
Like watching someone else’s life from afar. Some might call it escapism, but honestly, that was the extent of my feelings.
At the end of the long-stretching corridor, near the entrance, stood a woman waiting with her arms crossed.
Her sleek blonde hair was tied into a ponytail at the ends, draping down past her shoulders to her chest.
The bright sunlight pouring down seemed nothing more than a spotlight to accentuate her beauty.
“Erika Bright.”
I spat out her name like it tasted foul. Erika twisted her lips into a sneer bordering on mockery and crossed her arms tighter.
“How’s it feel?”
“Hmm.”
What answer would satisfy her? I pondered for a moment, but Erika drummed her fingers impatiently against her arm and cut me off.
“How does it feel to get kicked out of the academy? Because of your fiancée, no less.”
“Yeah, that.”
Sorry.
With my emotions worn so thin, something more heartfelt was beyond me.
“Feels liberating.”
I gave her a slight smile as I said it.
Grit.
Erika twisted her lips, ground her teeth, and hissed out hot breaths.
“You can still smile, huh?”
“…….”
“Keep smiling like that from now on. Maybe then you wouldn’t have gotten betrayed by a bitch like me.”
She uncrossed her arms, clenched her fists, and brushed past me. A fresh orange scent lingered sharply in her wake.
“Get lost. And don’t ever show up in my life again.”
I took in the sight of Erika’s retreating back for a moment, then nodded faintly.
“Good luck.”
Tap, tap.
With the same steady shoe sounds as always, I stepped out of the academy.
Perhaps because it was still vacation time, the academy was eerily quiet.
I turned slowly, gazing blankly at the building.
Dozens, hundreds of evil ghosts roamed wildly through the massive structure.
They all waved at me in unison and burst into cackling laughter.
[Should’ve gouged out those eyes! Should’ve jammed your juicy black pupils into my sockets!]
[Someday I’ll hack off your limbs and slurp your blood like wine!]
[Freedom! Freedom! Frrrrreeedom!]
[Keekeke!]
[I’ll rip out your guts with my six hands, stuff them into my nine mouths, and chew them up with my hundred eighty teeth!]
[This place will become a haunt for ghosts, a resting place for the dead!]
“What a pitiful place.”
Robern Academy, the stage for the game *Retry*. The place where the protagonist, leads, and supporting characters banded together to fight.
Unfortunately, Robern had way too many ghosts, and the reason was simple.
It had been built over the mass grave of those who died nameless and forgotten.
I’d heard it was meant to symbolize a foundation for the future, unbound by the past.
“Tch.”
The main story of the game hadn’t even started yet.
Remembering how much I’d struggled to keep those evil spirits in check, I clicked my tongue.
“Whatever.”
Ignoring the curses of the evil spirits, I turned on my heel.
“Every choice comes with consequences.”
As I passed through the academy’s main gate, the shrieks and laughter of the now-rampaging evil spirits grew even louder behind me.
From my perspective, with memories of my past life, I knew just the phrase to describe this perfectly.
The suppressor on the evil spirits had broken.