Memo Pad
"Let me see... Next class is PE. That's a moving class, right? Take good care of your sleeping desk-mate and move together. Especially the one at the very back."
Ji-yoon flinched.
"Wake up your desk-mate who's sleeping like a prince who ate a poisoned apple, and go together. Got it?"
"..."
At the homeroom teacher's words, Ji-yoon nodded, trembling.
He glanced carefully to the side. There was his desk-mate.
Unlike what the teacher had said, his desk-mate—Seonghyeon—sat with his upper body stiffly upright, arms neatly folded on his knees, eyes wide open. To anyone who didn't know better, he looked perfectly awake.
But there was no focus in his pupils.
The homeroom teacher said, "How on earth does he sleep like that?"
"Ahahahaha!"
"That's actually amazing."
If he'd been sleeping face-down, the teacher would've scolded him. But Seonghyeon wasn't face-down, and he wasn't even closing his eyes. The teacher couldn't bring himself to scold him for that.
Shaking his head in disbelief at a sight he'd never seen in twenty years of teaching, the homeroom teacher left the classroom.
Once the teacher was gone, the students began getting their PE uniforms ready.
One of the girls climbed onto her desk, pretended to lift her shirt, and said, "Get out, boys. From now on, this classroom belongs to the ladies."
"Eeeek! So gross!"
"Let's get out of here."
The boys gathered their PE uniforms and left, as if they'd witnessed something truly disgusting.
"If there's no locker room, you commoners can't even change into your PE uniforms, so disappear quickly."
With one more parting shot at their retreating backs, the girl threw off her shirt before the door had even closed.
Haaah!
Ji-yoon reflexively squeezed his eyes shut.
"..."
His face, already troubled about how to wake Seonghyeon, turned the color of a ripe tomato at the girl's sudden action.
Ji-yoon hung his head.
Noticing that Ji-yoon still hadn't left, another girl said to one of the girls changing clothes, "Hey, there's still someone who hasn't gone."
"So what? It's his fault for not leaving quickly. If we don't change now, we'll be late. Hey, we'll wake him up, so grab your clothes and get out."
"..."
Even as she spoke, the girl kept changing. Unlike the other girls who hesitated because Ji-yoon was still there, she already had her pants half-off and draped over her shoulder.
"..."
Nod.
Ji-yoon nodded with half-lidded eyes, grabbed the clothes he'd brought from his school bag, and left the classroom without looking back.
A girl passed by Ji-yoon as he was leaving.
"Hey, wake up! It's PE! PE!"
Fortunately, she seemed to intend to keep her promise to wake him. With her pants half-draped over her shoulder, she stumbled over to Seonghyeon.
He's... going to wake me up...
Relieved at the sound of the girl's voice, Ji-yoon clutched his PE bag to his chest and ran to the bathroom.
After changing in the bathroom and properly wrapping his scarf, Ji-yoon came out to the playground.
But...
"What? Why is one spot empty?"
"...??"
For some reason, Seonghyeon—whom the girl had said she'd wake up—was nowhere to be seen.
Slap... slap...
Everywhere I walked, blood pooled on the ground. The stench of blood pricked my nose, but I paid it no mind, stepping through the blood-soaked path.
Whether demon or human, the only living thing walking this blood-stained road was me.
Ughhh...
Hic! Hehehehe!
Sobbing laughter and wailing came from somewhere nearby.
I didn't look toward where the laughter was coming from.
I could guarantee there were no living beings here.
Only the lingering regrets of those who had once lived, and their crumbling bodies left behind, existed on this land.
Those sounds were absolutely not coming from the living.
They were phantoms of sorts, emitted by beings who had already lost.
There was no need to pay them attention, and I shouldn't have paid them attention.
Anyway, when the full moon rose or the sun came up, they would naturally disappear.
Ah... ah...
Stop.
Hic... It hurts...
A child's voice, cracked and broken, came from beside me.
It was impossible to tell if it was a boy or a girl—the voice was so ruined.
It's not human. Don't look back. If you look back...
No normal child would sound like that.
I absolutely should not have looked back.
But—
Thud...
My body turned toward where the child's voice had come from on its own.
I knew with my mind that I shouldn't look.
There was nothing I could do to help anyway.
And yet, my body reacted to the child's voice automatically.
"Hic..."
When I turned around and saw the "child" there, I sucked in a short breath.
Blood tears streamed from empty eye sockets.
The child's throat was half-torn, as if scraped by sharp claws.
Mommy! It hurts! I can't see! Save me!
The child wept pitifully, searching for its mother beside the corpse of what looked like its mother lying right next to it.
"..."
I slowly approached the child.
I knew it wasn't a child.
What remained here was the lingering thought the child had left behind.
I knew it was a phantom with no meaning whatsoever.
But I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind.
Swish...
It hurts!!!
The child screamed in agony.
"Mommy's here. Mommy's right here. Want to hold hands?"
Mom... my...?
I gently held the child in my arms.
Even as I held it, I felt no weight at all.
Not light—there was no weight whatsoever.
And yet, the child felt incredibly heavy to me.
Waaaah!!! Here I am!! Waaaah!!
"..."
The demons plucked out my eyes and ate them in front of me!
They tore my throat out because my crying was too loud!
It's Mommy's fault! If Mommy had been here, I wouldn't have been in so much pain!
"Yeah, you're right. Mommy did wrong. I'm sorry..."
I don't want to hear it!
Chomp...
"..."
It felt like something had bitten my shoulder—a dull, throbbing sensation.
I stroked the back of the child's head and said, "I'm sorry. But Mommy would have done her best. So please don't hate her too much. I'm begging you..."
Next to the child's corpse—eyes plucked out, throat torn—lay a crushed female body.
The woman's body bore traces of desperate resistance.
Not resistance for herself, but resistance for someone else.
So please don't hate her too much.
Even though things ended this way, she was someone who did her best for you.
I pulled the child closer and said, "Mommy promises. I'll definitely kill the Demon King and avenge you. So no more children like you will appear."
A promise.
Haaah...
The moon, hidden behind clouds, finally revealed itself.
Slowly, it cast its light down upon the earth.
...
...
...
Then the child I was holding, as well as the other lingering thoughts wailing around me like madmen, all scattered and began to disappear.
Like smoke, the child dispersed from my arms and vanished.
I stood blankly for a long time at the spot where the child had disappeared.
That was the moment.
"Sniff... Hic..."
A perfectly normal person's crying came from right beside me.
Huh? A person?
All the lingering thoughts had scattered and disappeared in the light of the full moon.
And this was clearly a human voice.
Was there a living person here?
I hastily turned to the side.
"Desk-mate?"
And there, sitting huddled on the ground where he had no business being, was my desk-mate, crying.
The moment I saw my desk-mate—
Flash.
My vision shook.
Instead of the blood-soaked path, an empty classroom began to welcome me.
Was it a dream... Why did I have to dream something like this?
The scenes I tried to forget wouldn't go away—they even followed me into my dreams to torment me.
Even if this is the Reverse World, I came to modern times. I should probably get some psychiatric treatment.
If I keep having dreams like this, I won't be able to live sanely.
"Sniff..."
Flinch...
What?
Am I still in the dream?
That can't be right?
The sobbing sound I'd heard in the dream was coming from beside me.
Since it wasn't a dream, that meant someone was really crying...
I slowly turned to the side.
"Hey, friend? Why are you crying?"
My desk-mate was truly, genuinely crying, tears like pearls rolling down his face.
I couldn't understand why he was crying.
"..."
Glare.
My desk-mate, who had stopped crying, glared at me resentfully.
He pulled out a small memo pad about the size of his hand and a pen from his chest—where on earth had he gotten those—and wrote something, then showed it to me.
PE TIME!! (◕ᴗ◕)
Oh, PE time!
No wonder the classroom was empty.
Everyone went to PE, I guess?
But why are you still here?
"It's PE time, so why didn't you go? Are you skipping?"
"...!!!"
"You don't like PE, I bet? Still, you should participate in class."
He did have the kind of build that looked like he'd hate PE.
He looked like a kid who'd die without even making a sound if you poked him, so he'd probably kept his distance from sports.
Still, you should participate in class.
He was a bolder kid than I'd expected.
"...!!!"
Tap. Tap.
My desk-mate suddenly clenched his fist and tapped my arm.
"What? Why? Are you giving me a massage? You don't have to."
"Ugh..."
Hmph!
My desk-mate stopped the massage and started scribbling angrily on the memo pad again.
When he was done, he held the memo pad right up to my face this time.
I couldn't go either because no matter how much I tried to wake you up, you wouldn't wake up!! (╯°□°)╯
Ah!
That's what it was.
Still, he wasn't the kind of kid who'd skip class.
But those emoticons are cute.
He draws well.
I don't know why he doesn't speak and insists on communicating via memo pad, but I'm not in a position to question it...
Looking at the time, it was about 11:30.
It was already too late to go back to class anyway.
Perfect.
PE would be over soon, and then it'd be lunchtime.
I should buy him something good to eat.
"Hey, friend. Let's go."
Class? It seems too late...
"No, class is already over. Since we're here, let's just skip."
"...?"
My desk-mate looked like he had a giant question mark floating above his head.
I led the hesitant desk-mate outside.