There had been a few times when I transferred schools, but…
‘I don’t have any good memories of it…’
There were few good memories in my life to begin with, so of course I didn’t have any good memories of that either.
If there was anything that had been even slightly better, it was that there had been kids who talked to me before I became known among them as the guy who abandoned his mom and ran away.
Of course, after a few conversations with them, rumors immediately spread that I was gloomy or whatever.
But even if I put all those memories together…
They still wouldn’t be worse than now.
Because right now, I was sitting here, about to transfer schools with a psycho senior who was staring right at me.
“…Se-Senior.”
“Yeah, what?”
“Are you going to kill me…?”
When I asked that, Senior seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head.
“No?”
“Ah…”
I let out a sigh of relief and looked out the window, only to feel a chill behind my head.
I heard the sound of cold metal touching the back of my head.
I called out to Senior in an anxious voice.
“Se…nior…?”
“You’ll die quickly. No… I guess it’d be more accurate to say many times…?”
Senior giggled, making a pew-pew sound as he spoke.
In his hand was the pistol that had shot me dozens of times.
My body began to tremble.
Looking at that senior, the same senior who told me not to trust anyone in the Bureau.
“Don’t trust anyone in the Bureau.”
“Why…?”
“You’re an anomaly.”
“……”
“Because you’re not human, no one will treat you sincerely.”
After giving that advice, Senior sat down and began looking through the school’s materials.
I felt something well up inside me, but since I couldn’t refute it, I simply nodded.
“Well, I can treat you sincerely.”
“…That’s a joke, right?”
“……”
Senior stared straight at me.
Looking at Senior Minjun, I turned my gaze out the window and prayed.
‘Please… please come back, Senior Yeonwoo… I’m sorry.’
I, who had only thought of that senior as a devil, ended up shedding tears after facing true malice.
* * *
Had we been in the car for about twenty minutes?
Before we knew it, we had arrived at the high school we were supposed to infiltrate.
“You’re in uniform, you’ve memorized all the teachers’ faces… Wait, you need to put this on.”
“Ah… yes…”
Senior came over to me and pinned on a name tag.
‘Lee Sion.’
It was an ordinary name tag, but how should I put it?
‘It feels like I’ve become human again.’
It felt as though I had become human again.
I hadn’t known that losing an everyday life that wasn’t anything special for just a few days could be this painful.
“Don’t take off the eyepatch.”
“Yes… it’s no-not that uncomfortable.”
Saying that, I hurriedly wiped away the tears that were about to fall, then raised my head and looked at the main gate.
[Amyeon High School]
I was becoming a high school student once again.
“Congratulations.”
Senior said that and walked inside.
I nodded as well, then followed him in.
* * *
The teachers’ office was heavy with the smell of coffee.
And there, we spoke with the person who would become our homeroom teacher.
“Neither of your parents came?”
“Yes, we’re not exactly on good terms with them.”
“……”
“I-I see.”
After hearing Senior’s answer, the homeroom teacher turned her head to look at me.
‘Scary…’
But I couldn’t back down here, so I also fidgeted and met the teacher’s eyes.
“So… why isn’t our Sion saying anything?”
The teacher said that and gave me a kind smile.
It felt like I had to answer somehow.
“Ah… uh, ngh.”
My voice wouldn’t come out.
Homeroom teachers were scary.
Even that gentle smile right now—I was afraid it would someday become terror and come for me.
Because the only person at school who had cared about me, my homeroom teacher, had been an anomaly.
In the end, wouldn’t this person be that anomaly too? That fear swallowed me whole.
“Uh… Iii…”
I took too long.
Just as the teacher seemed about to notice that something was strange.
“My sister’s still suffering badly from the trauma of the accident. She can’t speak well.”
“Oh my… I-is that so?”
“Ah… yes.”
Senior placed a hand on my shoulder and made a gesture as if comforting me.
Then the teacher said she was sorry and gave me another gentle smile.
‘Th-thank goodness.’
Our current cover was that we were twin siblings who had lost our parents on a trip and survived alone together.
We didn’t look alike at all, but we had decided to go with that.
Since the government had tampered with things on our behalf, no one would be able to uncover our identities anyway, so we could lie as much as we wanted.
“Wait here for a moment. Teacher will just make some coffee and then guide you to class right away.”
Saying that, the teacher smiled brightly.
At that, Senior and I nodded and thanked her.
“Thank you…”
“Thank you, Teacher.”
“Minjun, you’re very mature.”
The teacher laughed softly and went to make coffee.
At that, the gentle smile on Senior Minjun’s face turned rather flat.
“…For now, no distinguishing traits.”
“……”
Senior immediately wrote down information about the teacher in his notebook.
When I looked at Senior’s notebook, there were already several traits written there.
[Female.]
[Appears to like coffee.]
[No presence unique to anomalies can be felt.]
[Speaks very fluently. Can be considered unlikely to be an anomaly.]
[Unlike last time, when she was a Korean language teacher and a music teacher, she teaches Korean. The rule may have changed.]
Senior tapped his forehead with his pen as he said that.
Seeing him look for more traits to write down, I opened my mouth in a slightly tearful voice.
“…Th-the homeroom teacher originally spoke well too… so, I think it would be better to erase this one.”
When I said that and pointed to the third trait with my finger, Senior thanked me and corrected it.
“Whether she speaks well or not isn’t something to judge by, then.”
“Yes…”
“That helps. Thanks.”
Senior said that as if I had helped him in a way that was honestly surprising.
But even that praise made me happy.
After all, Senior Yeonwoo rarely praised me even when I did well.
‘Even if he did, I don’t remember.’
Because he tormented me so much, I couldn’t really remember.
All I had felt these past few days while being with that person was like walking the road to hell.
“If you get a hunch, tell me right away. I’ll deal with it.”
“Wo-won’t the seats be random…?”
“No, I already told them about that too. That my little sister is sick, so I’d have her sit next to me.”
“Ah…”
Thinking that was a relief, I let out a sigh.
Though feeling relieved with this psycho beside me was a little strange in itself.
“Kids, shall we head to class?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Ye-yes…”
The teacher’s voice was heard as she returned with her coffee, and we headed back again.
* * *
First Year, Class Three.
“What do we do.”
“……”
By coincidence, the class we were entering was First Year, Class Three.
It was the same class number as the high school I had originally attended.
At that, Senior Minjun let out a faint laugh.
My heart began to pound.
Bad memories began to overlap.
Had information leaked from somewhere?
Was the homeroom teacher toying with me right now because of that?
Paranoid thoughts like that flooded my head.
The scariest thing was that this might not be paranoia.
“Haa… haa…”
“You okay?”
“…Yes, yeees… I-I’m okay.”
Saying that, I grabbed Senior’s sleeve and lowered my head.
I couldn’t collapse here.
Because I still hadn’t proven myself.
“…Hoo.”
After taking a deep breath and raising my head, Senior looked slightly surprised.
“You okay?”
“Yes… I’m really okay now.”
“……”
After hesitating for a moment, Senior whispered a question to me.
“…Does your sweat contain toxic substances?”
“N-no.”
Only then did Senior hand me a handkerchief.
“Wipe yourself and give it back.”
“……”
“What’s with that face?”
Senior told me to give it back if I didn’t want it, so I thanked him, roughly wiped away my cold sweat, and then heard the teacher call us.
* * *
Homeroom period.
The restroom at the end of the first-year hallway.
There, a female student sat in a toilet stall, laughing.
The laughter did not travel far.
It disappeared inside the restroom.
Without even using the toilet, she simply sat there, shedding tears as she laughed.
No one came looking for that female student.
She had merely gone mad, alone and lonely, in the restroom.
The female student thought.
‘…I came into the boys’ restroom… they won’t find out, right?’
Because it had been too urgent, she had rushed into the boys’ restroom.
Was it because she hadn’t taken her medicine?
Or was it because something was strange?
With trembling hands, the female student hurriedly tore open the packet of medicine.
—Paat!!
Failing to control the strength in her hands, she ended up dropping the medicine onto the restroom floor.
The female student, who had been crouching on top of the toilet, startled and climbed down to pick up the medicine.
Then she crouched on top of the toilet again so that her feet would not be visible.
There was no water to take the medicine with.
She gathered saliva.
Slowly, slowly.
“Hic… hngh…”
Drop by drop, saliva gathered in the female student’s mouth, and she poured the medicine straight into it.
And at that moment, she realized that a voice was coming from the stall beside her.
A bizarre, twisted voice.
“Is it okay to take your medicine twice?”
Only then did the female student realize.
“Hup…!!”
That she had already taken her medicine that morning.
And then she realized one more thing.
—Squelch…
“Ah… save m—”
The monster above her head, drooling down onto her, was not a hallucination.
She was terrified, but there was nothing she could do.
And so.
—Crunch!!!
She met her end.
In the restroom where not a single person remained.
Laughter spread.