The One Slumbering in R'lyeh (1)
"Is there really any point in going to the Academy anymore?"
I voiced the question that had suddenly occurred to me to her.
No, seriously—think about it. I'd effectively surpassed S-Rank by a mile. What reason could I possibly have to waste my time attending the Academy?
Until just recently, it was a place I'd been desperate to keep attending, but now it had been reduced to something that made no difference whether it existed or not.
"Fair point."
Nyarlathotep shrugged in response to my words.
"There is no need to attend the Academy now. One must have something to learn in order to learn it. However."
Pretending to engage with my question, she continued.
"Humans seem to place great stock in these things called 'credentials.' The ones willing to hire a penniless dropout who couldn't even graduate from the Academy... by my estimation, there will be almost none."
"That's true, yeah..."
High ability comes with high credentials trailing behind it.
Everyone trusts a prestigious Seoul university over some no-name regional college. After all, you only get into a school like that if you actually have the ability.
Not that it applies to me.
Someone like me, who suddenly skyrocketed into power completely mismatched with my credentials, is basically... nonexistent.
Which meant that, like it or not, I had to keep attending the Academy for now.
What worries me most is the sparring matches.
I hadn't used this power even once since acquiring it.
Just raising Yehwa had drained me so thoroughly that every last drop of strength got sucked out of me.
So what would happen if I got into a sparring match in this state?
One slip in power control, and my opponent's head would probably pop like a balloon.
"Whew..."
Trudge, trudge.
Dragging my feet through every worry imaginable, I somehow made it to the Academy.
"By the way, why did you come?"
I turned my head and asked Nyarlathotep, who had followed me all the way to the Academy.
Thanks to that overwhelming face of hers, I'd caught so many stares on the way here that my cheeks were practically burning.
"Your face looked like a goldfish that had just taken a slap, brimming with complaints, so I followed. Is there a problem?"
...Did I really look that worried?
"Never mind. Go on in, then."
"If a guest has arrived, serving tea is simply proper etiquette—"
"This isn't my house."
Shove.
When I pushed against her small back, Nyarlathotep grumbled something under her breath and started walking toward my apartment.
Which meant it was time for me to head into the Academy too.
"Whew."
A sigh escaped me at the wall of worries pressing in, but just as she'd said, I needed to build up my credentials, so I forced my heavy feet forward.
[Class 1-B]
A place that felt unfamiliar every single time I visited.
Granted, I hadn't been here long, but the very fact that a former Class 1-F student like me was entering Class 1-B was absurd in itself.
It was like waking up one day as the prince in a beggar-and-the-prince story. The sudden leap in status actually made my current situation uncomfortably awkward.
Creeeak.
I swallowed, opened the door, and there it was—a classroom whose atmosphere was on a whole different dimension from Class F.
If F was the class of delinquents and D was your average public high school, this place felt like a specialized magnet school.
They were clearly no different from any other class on the surface, yet something radiated off them—an aura that practically announced I'm strong.
To me now, they were ants. But still, you could feel the confidence coming off them.
"You came!"
I looked around at my unfamiliar surroundings in a way I hadn't before and took my seat. That was when Iris trotted over with a bright, beaming face.
Is she really okay being this obvious?
Even with her reputation circling the drain, there was still such a thing as "other people's eyes."
If a girl who used to drag around with a dark face and rock-bottom self-esteem suddenly approached me all sunshine, what kind of reaction would that draw?
"You were so late, I thought you weren't coming again today!"
"Ah... right."
After giving a vague answer, I stood up as if heading to the bathroom and whispered into her ear.
"Don't act like we're master and servant here at the Academy. People will get the wrong idea."
Humanity, as a species, absolutely goddamn loves spreading rumors.
Official or pure speculation, wherever something seemed interesting and juicy, there was always someone ready to spread it to the very limit their feet could carry them.
If this kept up, it wouldn't be long before strange rumors started circulating through the Academy.
"At the Academy, we're friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Exactly friends."
"...! Understood."
Iris replied in a hushed murmur.
Anyway, I'd already stood up pretending to go somewhere, so I grabbed my tumbler and headed outside for some water.
"Cadet Kim Hyunseong?"
"Hmm?"
Someone behind me spoke up in a surprised voice. I glanced back and spotted a fairly familiar face.
Oh, it's him.
The Class 1-B advisor professor.
I hadn't been in Class B long, but he was one of the people who'd tried to buddy up to me, apparently having decided I was a rising prospect.
"You missed five whole days. I was so worried... Did something happen at home?"
"...Mental fatigue, sir. I was glued to my bed the whole time. Didn't even think about leaving it."
"Goodness, you mustn't do that. Whether it's physical or mental, when fatigue builds up, releasing it promptly is what matters."
He wasn't wrong.
If fatigue piles up, you've got to unload it somehow.
For me, that was gaming.
Games had been my one means of blowing off mental stress. After a grueling day of training, an hour or two in the early morning was enough to fuel me for tomorrow.
And thanks to it, I even met Nyarlathotep. What a blessing.
Games had even brought me the benefactors who changed my life. To me, gaming was a tool and a savior all at once.
Speaking of which, I need to grind like crazy when I get home.
Come to think of it, I'd been so busy lately that I'd barely played. Today, the moment I got home, I was gaming until I passed out at dawn. Non-negotiable.
"Well, class is starting, so come on in."
"I'll just get some water first, Professor."
"Right, of course."
Glug-glug-glug.
I leaned my bottle against the water purifier, and a strong stream began pouring into it.
Gaining a Constellation's power had turned my body into one with no need for basic human biological functions, but there was nothing stopping me from eating or drinking if I wanted to, so I filled it up anyway.
Besides, cold water in your mouth feels nice, doesn't it?
Slide.
Tumbler full, I slipped in through the back door of the classroom and took my seat.
"Alright, number one..."
The Class 1-B professor began taking attendance the simple way. But there was something written on his face—something he needed to say.
What's this?
He was the type of professor who ran morning roll call speedrunner-style. Finish fast, rest fast was his motto, which was why so many cadets liked him.
If a man like that had something to say, it was guaranteed to be serious.
"Attendance is... yes, complete."
Tap, tap.
He rapped the lectern with his attendance book to gather our attention, fidgeted for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"There is something important I must tell you all."
His face looked grave, urgent, and the cadets found themselves overwhelmed, staring at him instinctively.
"Are any of you familiar with 'thalassophobia'?"
Where the hell did that come from?
"Thalassophobia is the fear of deep, bottomless water—oceans, lakes, the deep sea."
"Perhaps no one in this class has it, but in the whole school you'd find one or two who do. Nobody knows the cause, though there's a hypothesis that it stems from a fear buried in humanity's evolutionary unconscious."
"Humans were born to breathe on land, so fearing water we cannot breathe in is only natural."
"But that is merely a hypothesis. The truth, no one knows. However."
"I have discovered it. Why humanity suffers from thalassophobia."
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
"Humanity has instinctively feared One Being. It lies slumbering in a city in the deep, deep sea—a place humanity has never charted—breathing. Waiting for the hour of doom, to drive foolish mankind to extinction."
"Thalassophobia was the scream of instinct crying out in those few with sharp senses. It comes! It is trying to wake!—a dirge, screamed and screamed again!"
"And so I am tormented by thalassophobia again today. I am afraid. Terrified. Any water with even a little depth terrifies... Ah! Ah! AAAAH!"
Smash!
"Wh-what is that?!"
"The water bottle! Who has a water bottle?! Tell me—truly, are you not afraid of the Thing that dwells within the water?!"
"None of you know! No! The whole world is full of people who don't know! It is waking! After thousands of years of slumber, it is rising and preparing to destroy humanity!"
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!!
"I know this is a great shock to you all, but you must accept it now!! That it truly exists! Ah—that window! The window!!"
....
"You insane—!"
For a moment I stared, dumbfounded, at what looked like a lunatic's one-man stage performance. Then I snapped out of it and bolted for the lectern.
"Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn. Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn. Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn. Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn..."
WHAM!
I reached the lectern in an instant, decked the professor across the cheek, and shouted.
"The professor's been hit by a psychic ability!! Subdue him!!"
Dammit. What the hell is going on?