Chapter 10

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: penny

Chapter: 10

Chapter Title: One Step to Escape

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Just as I expected."

I opened my eyes not in the first-floor Lodge Room, but inside the 3-3 classroom ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠where Palm Tree Ham—no, Shin Yu-na—was.

In the corner, Shin Yu-na was huddled in the cabinet, scrolling through the gallery.

The time hadn't changed.

Just my physical location had shifted.

'Jackpot. It's not true omnipotence since it doesn't know how many times I've died and come back by now.'

It had tossed me here without any resistance, just like locking me up.

Even though I'd predicted it, it seemed the owner of this place had its own limitations.

If it knew about my infinite respawns,

it wouldn't have even given me time to bash my own head in.

And on top of that.

The two new rules popped up the moment I respawned.

That alone made me realize this rulebook was rotten from the core.

It dangled vicious hope,

only to crush even that tiny spark with malicious intent.

Whoosh—!

It burns.

It blazes fiercely.

Whoosh!

Having erased even the last possibility that it was watching through that thing,

I laughed and gazed out the window.

The janitor patrolling nearby, the eerie balloons floating around, even the distant civilians—all staring right at me!

"Worship this body, you foolish anomalies."

Just one step left to escape.

Take Shin Yu-na to the bathroom, and it's game over.

"Gotta hurry."

Something I hadn't felt before.

A vicious intent screaming, 'I'll kill you no matter what.'

Seems its attention had shifted from Shin Yu-na, the original host of this School Strange Tale, to me, the easy meal that slipped away.

Clunk!

I pulled Shin Yu-na out of the cabinet I'd shut.

"The real escape route is the bathroom?"

"That's what they say. Of course, it could be bullshit."

"So there's a chance..."

"Why the long face? If we're escaping, shouldn't you be happy?"

"Just... feeling kinda empty."

Shin Yu-na let out a long sigh as she spoke.

About the people she'd spent time with after being kidnapped, how their numbers dwindled, and how she'd ended up alone for a full 10 years.

She'd teared up while telling it,

but honestly, from my perspective, it was nothing much. Food came, I slept, even anomalies were chatty company—what's not heaven?

To me, it just sounded like whining.

Damn, had I really turned into such an old fogey?

It was a moment where I suddenly felt the winds of time, but given the situation, I quickly dragged her to the bathroom.

Inside were the mirror I'd smashed myself,

the doppelganger that used to be 'me,' now a pulpy mess,

and just a few toilets and urinals.

Glancing sideways, Shin Yu-na was already scoping out the men's room like she'd been here a few times, looking right at home.

Should've checked the women's room instead?

That one still had its mirror intact.

Ahem, honestly, it's a guy's dream spot anyway.

I was about to suggest moving to the other bathroom when.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Footsteps echoed.

The footsteps of that motherfucker who'd given me my first death.

No idea why it showed up now, but

Oh, that's how it is?

Now that I've burned the rulebook, it's kindly displaying it on screen. Thanks a bunch.

Anyway, at this rate, we'd both die for sure.

I might be fine, but I had to get Shin Yu-na out.

I shouted in a highly agitated voice.

"Search! There's supposed to be some escape route in here—find it quick if you don't wanna die!!"

"Huh? Uh? O-okay!"

"You singing or what? Find it faster, damn it—!!!"

Still, no spot in the bathroom screamed 'escape route.'

Even prying open the ceiling revealed only horrific flesh walls.

Confusion set in.

Was expecting 'common sense' here the problem from the start?

No, maybe that gallery guy's escape route info was fake to begin with...

"Ha, 10 years is a long life. I stood by while others got eaten, so maybe this karma is fine..."

"Bullshit, quit yapping and find the exit!"

"Life is fleeting, follow nature's way, attain Buddhist liberation..."

"You're crazy, totally nuts..."

As I shook the half-given-up Shin Yu-na,

Wriggle.

Wriggle.

"What the hell is this?"

Oh yeah, there was that penalty, right?

Looking at my fingers due to the alien sensation,

they looked perfectly normal, yet wriggling against my will.

Wow, this is some real fantasy shit.

The docs would've written a hundred papers on this.

But the finger pointed in one direction like an arrow.

"The toilet?"

And there it was—a toilet.

The spot where I'd even ripped off the door in my search for escape.

Why was the finger pointing here?

After pondering for a while,

I recalled the shadow's words from right before my previous death.

I'd dismissed it as nonsense then,

but plugging 'toilet' into it felt oddly fitting.

"Yu-na, this sounds totally insane, but wanna give it a shot?"

"Amitabha... Amen..."

"You're too far gone, so whatever, let's do it."

I shoved Shin Yu-na into the toilet.

"Kyaaah! Why stuff me in the toilet, you maniac!?"

"Quiet, gotta overcome even this shit-water for escape!"

"Kyaaaaah!!!"

Then I flushed.

"Huh?"

Like shit going down the drain, her body dissolved and got sucked into the toilet.

That's when I finally figured out how to escape this School Strange Tale.

A toilet is a device to flush away foreign substances.

Rephrase that?

"Humans who weren't originally here count as foreign substances too? What a filthy-ass escape method..."

Shin Yu-na had long since liquefied and vanished.

Now I was the only one left in this strange tale.

I desperately wanted to bail right then,

but.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Were the generals of Romance of the Three Kingdoms this torn?

This feeling flipping my resolve toward escape.

Yeah, this was revenge.

Truth be told, I'd regret it forever if I didn't beat that fucker's ass.

"Batty, let's do this."

"We're gonna be the best partners!"

I flung open the bathroom door.

There came the shadow devouring space itself from afar.

The shadow, baffled that its dead prey was alive, charged with a furious expression.

Captured by past memories for a split second,

Batty snapped me out of it, igniting pure emotion.

That thing was just a spawn of the strange tale—trust your own potential more! Batty's sharp point!

"Wooooaaargh!!!!!!!"

Roaring, I charged the shadow.

A soul-infused strike with my one remaining arm.

But.

Crunch—!

Reality was grim, all too real.

One swipe shattered my ribs and vital organs completely.

"Gah! Urgh! You bastaaard...!"

Still, it landed solidly.

Even as I took the hit, my swing grazed the shadow—a testament to its slightly reduced mass.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

By the time four of my corpses piled up on the floor,

I finally severed that son of a bitch's neck.

Stepping past the pathetically sprawled shadow,

Tap. Tap.

I activated the mic in the 4th-floor Control Room.

Amid the prolonged mechanical noise came

the strange tale's voice, brimming with clear 'hatred.'

It raged at the destruction of its playground.

Hatred so intense even I felt chills hearing it.

The final rule appeared after that, but

I didn't press the button.

Instead, I sneered and pulled the mic to my mouth.

"You're fucked now."

Cackling maniacally, I smashed both buttons.

And with that, the annihilation of the so-called 'strange tale' space.

I stormed the Lodge Room, Classrooms, Bathroom, Control Room, Principal's Office, Stairs, and every other spot, demolishing, dismantling, and wrecking with my bat.

No anomalies left to stop me—they'd thrown everything at me already.

Once I smashed even the pillars holding the building together,

along with the strange tale's dying words,

"Cleared."

As if it had all been an illusion, the entire building began crumbling.

And when I opened my eyes again,

the girl from my dream was looking at me.