Victim's Perspective
[We're currently investigating an explosion of unknown cause... Yes... Students, please stay away from the area near the science lab on the second floor and head home under your homeroom teacher's guidance...]
School Announcement
At that guidance broadcast, my classmates started packing their bags one by one.
The opening ceremony, this endlessly long day, was finally over.
It felt like five days had passed.
"Ah~ What a shame. If it was gonna explode, why not tomorrow? Why today of all days? It's shortened anyway since it's the first day... Right, Yeon-woo?"
Ahn Jae-ho from the seat in front of me grumbled as he stuffed his soccer cleats into his bag.
"Yeon-woo, wanna hit up the PC bang?"
"No."
This guy's got some thick skin. Do you even know me? Accomplice to a terrorist.
"C'mon~ Let's gooo~ The login bonus today is insane. I'll even buy you ramen~"
"Yeon-woo has prior plans with me. Mind giving us some space?"
"Eh? Can't I come too?"
Seo Seon-ha stealthily jabbed something into the side of Ahn Jae-ho, who was clinging to me. A cultural gift certificate.
"Go spend it there. You know about that broken Advanced Player Pack that just came out, right? That amount will boost your team's value by twenty times."
"Leave it to me. You two have a good time."
...What the hell does Seon-ha not know?
What's this Advanced Player Pack crap?
Is that just another random fact she has memorized to reel me in?
"Yeon-woo, I rented out the whole cat cafe. Hehe, let's hurry and go rub cheeks with the kitties!"
"I'm tired..."
"...You told Han Hyun-joo Teacher you'd go earlier?"
"That was then... I'm tired now..."
".........I wonder who'll disappear tomorrow..."
"Okay, let's go! For cheek rubs!"
"Yes!"
Ah, so annoying.
Nothing went my way all damn day.
Not that it ever has.
We exited through the main gate. It was still only 12:30 p.m. Bright midday.
-Having a hard time walking? Should I call the chauffeur?
-No. Let's walk. Traffic'll be jammed anyway with lunch hour.
-I meant the helicopter.
-We're walking.
For now, if I were a cat, I wouldn't go near any lunatics landing a chopper and barging into the cafe.
Han Hyun-joo was by the school gate. She was learning something from an elderly colleague teacher while watching the students head home.
Perfect.
Seon-ha was right beside me, but I had to do the bare minimum. The teacher still thought I'd tormented her all day.
"Teacher... You worked hard today. Looking forward to tomorrow."
"...Uh, y-yeah..."
Her response was lukewarm.
Well, yeah... After calling her ugly and shaking a soda can at her, plus shoving her on the third floor and slapping on a bit of Fucidin, who'd be thrilled? No way it'd blow over that fast. I hadn't expected it to.
Still, I believed a single word at the end of the day could shift her image just a little.
"Say it to me too."
"...Yeah. Seon-ha, looking forward to tomorrow too."
Main heroines always gotta copy everything you do for them or they won't be satisfied.
We left the cat cafe. The sky, streaked with sunset, looked utterly bleak.
No incidents inside. Though when Seon-ha put on cat ears midway and demanded cheek rubs with her every "nyan," my blood ran cold.
"We're high schoolers now."
"Yeah."
High school... three years...
-Thud thud -Click clack
The future looks pitch black.
After getting skinned alive like this, and it's not even the end of day one.
How much more do I have to take?
At our usual parting crossroad, Seon-ha twisted her body.
"Today was fun."
"Yeah."
"Today was fun."
"Sure."
"..."
"It was fun for me too."
"Hehe."
"I'm off."
"Text me later."
I will. If I ghost her, another regional disaster alert for "17-year-old Lee Yeon-woo" will go out.
I walked straight one way, then glanced back. Her fading figure was still standing there, waving at my dimming form.
-Thud thud
Streetlights along the main road flickered on one by one.
Shops bustled with opening prep. Commuter crowds swelled.
Adults wore their daily fatigue on their faces. That meant they were upstanding.
In uniform or not, my expression probably wasn't much different. How'd it come to this? I was definitely a filthy non-upstanding adult before.
-Pssshhh
An air tube in front of a shop inflated. Flailing every gust of wind, it somehow mirrored my situation.
"Hey? Yeon-woo!"
Passing the PC bang, I ran into Hyun-jik. Still chilly out, but he was in shorts and slippers.
"Done for the day?"
"Who're you."
"C'mon, sorry~ Cheer up. Huh?"
"Don't talk to me. Before I really beat your ass."
I ignored him and kept walking, but Hyun-jik tagged along persistently.
"Yeon-woo. Can I ask something serious?"
"Answer and we're done being friends."
"Hey, fuck! You'd end our friendship over this!? Do you know how valuable ten years of brotherhood is?"
"Gotta smash that phone for me to forgive you under the 17. 18 feels good, huh? Traitor bastard."
"No... Dude, Yeon-woo. I just don't get you."
"I know what you're gonna say. Don't."
"Like I said this morning... You were dying for Seon-ha before. Now you're suddenly keeping distance?"
"Dunno. Asshole."
"Dude. Seon-ha's fine, isn't she?"
Here we go again.
"Rich, pretty face, body... eh, love it or hate it, smart, studies well, a bit scary sometimes... but otherwise perfect?"
"If she's that great, go hug her and live happily."
"Y-you crazy? I'd be locked up instantly."
Locked up? You'd be executed.
"That's what I'm saying... A girl like that likes you, so why play hard to get?" Hard to get? I'm clinging to a cliff so I don't bounce off.
"Tch, sigh..."
I answered with a deep sigh instead. I'd explained this a million times, but he kept asking. Guess he just couldn't wrap his head around it. Couldn't convince him without dragging in sub-heroines and Strategy routes.
...
Past me would say the exact same thing to current me as Hyun-jik. Strolling campus with a pretty rich girl. School life dreams like that, consumed as fiction.
Yeah, back when I dreamed that, I ended up like this.
-Bzzz
My phone rang.
"Hyun-jik. It's Mom."
"Oh, yeah. I'm heading out too. See ya tomorrow."
"Yes, Mom."
A check-in on when her son would be home.
-On my way. Yeah. No. First day so...
I used formal speech with these parents. There was distance.
They raised me, but I didn't grow up under them.
Chatting on the phone while walking, I reached the residential area. Rare in Korea's apartment jungle—a neighborhood straight out of Crayon Shin-chan.
"See you soon. Yeah."
The call ended as I crossed the bridge over the stream.
Mainly worries about her son, wrapped in a scarf that morning, catching a cold. Good people. Mom and Dad both.
-Quack
Ducks floated thick on the water today. Ducklings trailing their mothers. Ducks all look the same—do they really know which mom's theirs among the flock?
"Mom..."
...
I'd just talked to Mom a minute ago... but it felt like ancient history.
"Wonder what Dad's up to."
Not as exemplary as this world's dad, but the immature one who sold his car to buy his son a new PC.
"...Si-yeon..."
My little sister. Couldn't sleep alone without me checking under the bed for ghosts. Followed me everywhere, even said she'd marry her big bro when little. Wait... she said that even grown up. Once, when I told her not to come in my room, she skipped her beloved Swedish class and barricaded herself inside.
...
I miss them. So much. Should've cherished them more.
...
If I could go back... Regrets piled like a mound. Chewing on those stale gum regrets, I was nearly home.
...Enough.
Some book said self-pity's for the despicable. Emotional blackmail with family is just self-pity.
Reasons to return... go beyond that.
I'm more pragmatic than despicable. Felt like dropping by a place after ages. Turned my steps with home in sight.
Far to walk, but I did. Stopped at a house with a big camphor tree in the yard.
Road didn't end. Asphalt continued, scenery too.
Faint red mark on the stone wall beside. I drew it months ago.
Reach out.
Slowly.
-Zzzzt
My hand past the mark fizzled with noise, pixelating apart.
Now push my face in.
Black.
Nothing.
"Still the same."
Undeveloped file ahead? Or...
"Woof woof!"
A guy in tracksuit and his dog passed me.
...Space not unlocked for me yet?
Nonexistent or unopened... either way, same conclusion. This world is narrow. Fake. How 'bout it, Hyun-jik? Isn't that reason enough to get sick of it...
".........Hm."
Bit embarrassing now. Narrow, fake... said by someone who boxed himself in for five years.
My old world was narrow from the start.
Just... suddenly terrifying.
-Son~ Chicken's here, not eating?
-Yeah~ Later~ Leave it by the door~
Thought opening that door meant escape anytime.
But no more. A giant suddenly blocked it.
-Bzzz
Phone vibrated.
...
No more energy today. Give her what she wants. Favorability won't rise anyway.
Head home. No more walking. Sat at the bus stop, and the bus arrived.
[Student.]
I know...
The bus terminal's voice recording came out snarky.
[Yay~ Still not home? Still a student this year too?]
I'll go back. This year. You tin can punk.
Got home to a warm family welcome.
Answered their new semester questions appropriately. Good people.
In this world or that, the only screw-up son is me.
Maybe from bawling like a baby yesterday, but the next day my body felt oddly light.
On the way to school, Hyun-jik, waiting at my door, latched on.
"Sorry, okay? Forgive me a bit. Huh?"
"Piss off."
"Dude! You think I'd ditch you for a phone like this!?"
"Then smash it. Prove your purity."
"......Ahem, no need for that. Hey hey, don't be like that... Huh? You see this? Apple Phone 18, zero lag."
"Ah, get off me."
"No, just look. This refresh rate..."
-Thud
He tripped on a stone, sprawling dramatically. His spinning Apple Phone hit pavement—crash, shattered to bits. Nice.
"Waaaaaah!!!!!"
Such a pure soul. Ah, forgiven.
Alone to school without Hyun-jik cradling his dead phone and bolting.
-Click clack
"Oh my, what a coincidence."
Seon-ha, appearing from the alley as if by chance again today.
Bookbag or uniform, no GPS as far as I could tell—maybe she tracked me via satellite.
"Sleep well last night?"
"Yeah."
"Apple or banana, which do you like?"
Assault from the morning...? Imagining the intent behind the question, Seon-ha and I headed to school like any other day.