The Dreamlike Hotel [Illustration]
“With this, the banquet is concluded! Examinees, please keep in mind that you may not leave your rooms after ten o’clock. You’ve all worked hard today, so get plenty of rest.”
“Tomorrow, by one in the afternoon, we will summon the gate leading outside here in the banquet hall. So please make sure you are all ready to check out by then!”
The banquet came to an end.
The examinees left the banquet hall with the people they had grown close to during the question game.
Yeon Haneul and I followed after them.
“Gyeonwoo! Haneul! See you tomorrow!”
“Thank you for the advice. Good luck on the exam.”
“I hope you both do well too.”
“See you both tomorrow.”
Nearby were Go Eunbi and Lisa, who had received advice from me about the fourth practical exam.
The two of them thanked me, then returned to their assigned rooms.
We climbed farther up the stairs than they did, heading for the top floor.
“You remember my advice, right?”
“I remember. Don’t worry.”
“Then sweet dreams.”
“You too, Gyeonwoo.”
We arrived on the floor where the suite rooms were.
After exchanging words of encouragement, we soon parted ways in the hallway.
I entered my room.
Then I walked over to the portrait hanging on the wall opposite the bed.
‘This is probably the monster I have to defeat.’
Even in the game, there were monsters that used paintings as a medium.
Monsters of that sort were all treated as part of the background until they revealed their true nature.
Attacks didn’t work on them.
“…”
Because of that, in the game, even if you knew, you had no choice but to wait until the monster revealed itself before dealing with it.
But in reality, with its high degree of freedom, that wasn’t an issue.
I could dispose of this painting before it revealed its true nature.
‘Maybe if I burn the portrait, it’ll just die right then and there.’
If that happened, I wouldn’t even need to fight it in the mental world.
I could pass the fourth practical exam with ease.
But I also had to consider the possibility that things wouldn’t go as planned.
If I was unlucky…
‘Since it’s a monster that uses objects as a medium, it might be able to transfer to some other object in the room.’
That could happen.
If I made one wrong move, it might become difficult to find it in the mental world.
It would become troublesome in all sorts of ways.
‘…Can’t be helped.’
A gamble without certainty was dangerous.
I decided not to get rid of the portrait.
Instead, I took the portrait down from the wall and headed to the bathroom.
I placed the portrait in the bathroom and turned on the faucet.
Drip, drip…
A thin stream of water fell from the faucet onto the portrait.
The water was sucked down the bathtub drain with the plug removed.
“This should do it.”
I had no way of knowing what form the monster would take in the mental world, or where it would be hiding.
So I was setting up a clue that would let me find it.
If my guess was right, it would surely be where the sound of water could be heard.
“That’s it for preparations.”
Now all I had to do was sleep.
I turned off the lights and lay down on the bed.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Little by little, my consciousness sank.
* * *
Shaaaaa.
The sound of rain struck my ears.
“Where is this…”
When I came to my senses, I was standing beneath the roof of some building.
The sky, covered in dark clouds, was black, and rain was pouring down in torrents.
And Academy City lay in ruins.
The World Tree, which could be seen from anywhere in Academy City, had revealed its bare, skeletal branches.
“…”
Broken, collapsed, and half-destroyed buildings came into view everywhere.
Cars were overturned, and endless cracks ran through the roads.
Not a single person could be seen passing through the streets.
I couldn’t even sense a presence.
“Ah, right.”
At that moment, I realized.
The world had ended.
“…”
It felt as though I had taken the academy entrance practical exam only yesterday, yet time had flown by in an instant.
Three years was an incredibly short time.
All that time, I had done my utmost to avoid the bad endings and reach the ending I wanted.
But there was one I failed to avoid.
This was the result.
I had failed.
‘…Shit.’
When, and where, had things gone wrong?
Why had it turned out like this?
I didn’t know.
All I could do was suffer under guilt and chew on my powerlessness.
‘If only I’d done a little better—no, if I’d just, from the very beginning…’
It was then that my eyes went to my left palm.
There was writing on it.
“…Ah, right.”
My mind became clear.
This place was inside my dream.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was inside the dream the monster was showing me.
After realizing it from the words written on my palm, I brushed off the emotions I had felt just moments before.
‘I almost got fooled.’
I might forget again at any moment that this place was a dream.
To generate mana resistance, I manifested the mana inside my body.
This should allow me to resist, to some extent, the monster’s tricks from wherever it was hiding in the dream.
But still.
‘With the rain pouring down like this, finding it won’t be easy.’
I gave a bitter smile.
I had thought I would be able to find the monster by heading toward the sound of water, but it seemed the thing wasn’t that easy to deal with.
‘Can’t be helped. I’ll have to find it myself.’
It was surely hiding somewhere nearby in order to delude me.
I decided to wander through the dream.
Tak!
That was when I sensed a presence.
Mixed in with the sound of rain was a noise like someone landing on the ground.
I tried to spread out my detection net.
“…”
But there was no need.
Because the owner of that presence suddenly leaped down and landed in front of me.
The moment I took in that existence, I was rendered speechless.
“Haneul, why are you…”
“I was looking for you, Gyeonwoo.”
“…”
Standing in the violently falling rain.
Yeon Haneul, heedless of getting wet, was approaching me.
Between her black strands of hair, her red eyes flashed.
‘Wait, black hair?’
Black hair was the appearance Yeon Haneul took on in the game when she was reborn as the Witch of Calamity.
And then, right at that moment.
“I was looking for you, Gyeonwoo.”
“Where were you?”
“Gyeonwoo.”
“Why are you running away?”
“Do you hate us?”
“…”
There wasn’t just one Yeon Haneul.
Everywhere my eyes reached…
There was a black-haired Yeon Haneul.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…
The number kept increasing.
“…Shit.”
Yeon Haneuls multiplied beyond counting.
It was a scene I had seen in the game.
Only then did I realize what kind of dream I had entered.
‘The Yeon Haneul ending, huh…’
An ending where the world was destroyed by Yeon Haneul, who had multiplied exponentially.
I clicked my tongue as I watched them approach me with hostility.
My hand went to the Ultramarine Sword.
Immediately after, countless Yeon Haneuls charged at me.
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
“Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.” “Gyeonwoo.”
* * *
“Now, boys, draw your lots!”
It felt like she had been having a strangely sweet dream.
Yeon Haneul came to her senses at the sound of the homeroom teacher’s voice.
“…”
Fifth grade of elementary school, the first day of the new semester.
Changing seats was in full swing.
The assignment method had boys sit beside girls according to the order of the lots they drew.
‘No one will sit next to me anyway…’
Because, due to her height, she felt as though she would only block the view of the person behind her.
And more than anything, because she did not want to stand out.
Sitting in the very back by the window, Yeon Haneul did not look at the boys moving around to find their seats.
After all, she thought there wouldn’t be a single person willing to sit beside her, the girl everyone avoided at school.
Surely, the last person left would sit beside her with a thoroughly displeased expression.
It was easy to predict.
Because it had always been that way.
‘I won’t be chosen.’
So she must not expect anything.
Yeon Haneul killed her own heart and prayed earnestly that this hellish time would end.
“Ah.”
At that moment, Yeon Haneul happened to open the palm she had been clenching tightly on her lap.
There was writing on her palm.
「Haneul, don’t fall asleep」
“…Pfft.”
She held back the laugh that escaped on its own.
Crooked handwriting.
The moment she saw it, Yeon Haneul realized that she was in a dream world.
‘I’m dreaming about the day I first met Gyeonwoo.’
Manifesting the mana inside her body…
Yeon Haneul smiled softly.
She, who had resigned herself to never being chosen by anyone, now lifted her head with confidence.
Then she found Do Gyeonwoo in front of the blackboard.
‘Gyeonwoo, you… taught me that I could be chosen by someone too.’
For Yeon Haneul, this day was an extremely memorable one in her life.
It was the day that became a turning point in her life.
Do Gyeonwoo probably did not know.
He did not know that she, who had been despairing at the thought of choosing and being chosen for seats over the next year, had met him and been saved.
‘Twelve-year-old Gyeonwoo… Seeing you like this, you’re really cute. I want to bite your cheek.’
As she recalled those feelings from back then…
Yeon Haneul waited for Do Gyeonwoo to walk over to her side.
Before long, it was Do Gyeonwoo’s turn.
“Number nine, please choose your seat!”
‘Gyeonwoo, I’m right here.’
Do Gyeonwoo took a step.
He came toward the seat by the window.
Knowing she would be chosen, Yeon Haneul, unlike in the past, stared straight at him.
‘This time… should I jokingly refuse him? I’m curious how Gyeonwoo would react.’
Do Gyeonwoo was coming.
He was coming. Coming! Coming! Coooming!
Even though they had spent five years as childhood friends, the fact that he would choose her made Yeon Haneul’s heart pound.
‘I guess I shouldn’t refuse even as a joke. I should tell him to sit down right away.’
When Do Gyeonwoo sat beside her, this time she would speak to him in a friendly way.
Yeon Haneul resolved herself.
However, he…
“…Huh?”
“May I sit next to you?”
“…You’re Gyeonwoo, aren’t you? I know your name. I am not in a position to refuse, so please sit. As people from prestigious families, let us get along for the next month.”
“…”
Do Gyeonwoo did not head toward her, but sat down beside Kim Suji.
While saying the words he should originally have said to her.
“…So that’s how it is.”
Do Gyeonwoo and Kim Suji smiled as they talked.
They looked good together.
Yeon Haneul stared blankly at the sight and gave a bitter smile.
‘So this is how you’re attacking me.’
Even though she knew it was a dream…
Yeon Haneul was swept up in gloomy emotions.
She rose from her seat.
“Device On.”
She would smash this stupid dream to pieces.
Yeon Haneul swung her sledgehammer.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss