Outside the window, the cackling sounds could still be heard.
Listening to those sounds, I fell silent.
*'Rule… rules…? Is this a rule?'*
Thinking so, I looked at the blackboard.
The words still written there: 12th period, go to the sports ground.
I looked at the clock.
10:30.
Roughly the time when second period ends.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I looked around.
"...These desks, all... all of them are those kids...?"
[I don't know.]
"......."
The Watcher, answering that he simply doesn't know.
At this, I felt like I might collapse on the spot, but I couldn't do so.
Minjun sunbae was right in front of me.
I couldn't ignore that person.
*'If I collapse here......'*
I die.
And it doesn't end there.
I will become the most useless existence.
Dying, dying, dying, dying again and again.
Yes, I am still that person's... no, this ghost's toy.
"Sunbae."
"......."
Sunbae, not saying a word.
Is Park Minjun, the human, still in there?
I don't really know.
"Kkhuk...!!"
Squeezing my eyes shut, I began to run.
Then, a singing voice could be heard.
I thought hallucinations would overwhelm me, but.
[The hallway is stretching.]
"...It's not?"
[What?]
It didn't work at all.
*Have I... adapted?*
As if I had adapted to the environment.
As if my body refused to fall for it twice, I no longer saw hallucinations.
But that was none of my concern.
"Let this go...!!"
"Hey, come to your senses!! Stop it!!"
"Kuaaack!!!"
"Te...acher......."
As soon as I exited our classroom, I saw people in the distance beginning to transform into desks.
At this, even as tears streamed down, I started running.
The eyepatch was cumbersome, so I tore it off and threw it away.
[Get a grip.]
"Kkhheup."
The people around me were turning into chairs and desks, one by one.
Why is it that only this hallucination remained so alive and well?
"I... I don't know if what I'm seeing right now... is, is real or not... haa, haa......."
My footsteps gradually slowing.
From behind, I heard a squelching sound following me.
My legs trembled violently in terror, refusing to go any further.
My spirit broke.
Stopping completely in my tracks, I shed tears.
"...I, can't run anymore."
[.......]
"I, want to live......."
I shed tears because I wanted to live, but I couldn't run.
My feet had stopped and wouldn't move.
And from behind me, a chilling voice.
"Not, running... away? You, die?"
"...Hic."
A chilling voice that involuntarily drew a hiccup from me.
At this, shedding tears, I pleaded over and over, please, save me.
"Please... save me... please."
A cackling, mocking laugh rang out.
* * *
A spine-chilling piano sound.
Tunes and chords changing by the moment.
In front of the broadcasting room where such sounds could be heard.
Park Minjun, who had stopped there, raised his gun with a contorted expression.
"What are you?"
"Me?"
"...Yeah."
"Huhut......."
The school nurse, smiling brightly while slowly melting.
"Don't you know?"
So saying, the health teacher bared a grotesque smile and lunged at Minjun.
The ghost scattered black liquid as it crawled across the ceiling and hallway like a spider.
To this, Minjun calmly continued his return fire.
—Bang!!! Bang!!!
Gunshots echoing throughout the hallway.
Yet even so, the ghost was not hit.
"...Tch."
The ghost wandered about, spraying nauseating fluid everywhere.
And there was one fact that such a Minjun had overlooked.
[Found, you.]
"...!?"
It was the existence of the doppelganger that had been chasing right behind him.
Realizing this, Minjun immediately fired, but.
—Splat!!
"...!?"
An accident occurred—the liquid splashed into his eyes after being struck by the bullet.
And the aberration began from that moment.
"Kuaaaack...!!!!"
Minjun dropped his gun and clutched his eye.
Dark red liquid and black mucus fell from his eye together.
Blood and the ghost's flesh wetting his hand damply.
At this, Minjun's breathing began to quicken.
Just as he was about to pick up the fallen gun.
—Crunch!!!
"...!?"
"A sick child should go to the nurse's office."
"...You, ghost bastard."
"Wouldn't it hurt to stay here like this?"
Half of its face grotesquely melted away, the school teacher pinned Minjun's wrist to the ground with its foot, wearing a bizarre smile.
Minjun thrashed in maddening agony as he looked up at such a teacher.
"Kuaaaack!!!! Kkheok!!!"
His left eye gradually losing sight, agony flooding in.
Minjun was being eaten alive.
And watching such a Minjun, the school teacher licked its lips as if satisfied.
"This is the most entertaining reaction."
"...Shut, up!!"
So saying, Minjun threw a punch.
A fist fast and accurately aimed at the solar plexus.
At this, the school teacher smiled brightly and removed its foot from Minjun's wrist.
"Trying to kill me?"
"...Haa...haa......."
Minjun grabbed his gun and rose from his spot.
He ignored even the agony and smiled brightly.
"That's right, the toy isn't me—it's you."
—Bang!!!!!
The bullet veered without force.
He couldn't focus properly.
Whether due to the agony or not, Minjun's right hand was moving on its own.
"What... is this...?"
"...The toy, is you."
"Keoheok...!!"
The moment the school teacher's words ended, Minjun vomited blood onto the floor.
Then he collapsed on the spot with a thud.
From his left eye, a leech-like black liquid squirmed madly, making a nauseating sound.
"How entertaining, toy."
"...Son, of a bitch."
The school teacher forced open Minjun's right eye, pinned against the floor, using its fingers.
And it dropped a single black droplet of saliva onto his eyeball with a plop.
The ghost's flesh chunk, which had entered the left side as well.
It began to devour Minjun's eyeball very rapidly.
"Aaack...!!!"
Minjun thrashed, clutching his right eye.
His thoughts slowly began to cease.
"Slowly... it'll move to your brain. You won't be able to see much at all."
Minjun let out faint breathing sounds.
And the ghost played with such a Minjun like a toy.
It clapped its hands and placed the pistol into Minjun's hand.
Then it gestured in the air.
"If I... do this...!"
—Bang!!
"Oh...!"
"...!!"
Minjun's hand moved following the ghost's hand, lightly firing the gun.
Since he couldn't control his strength, proper aiming was a failure, but.
It was certainly a great achievement.
A very great achievement at that.
"How fun, toy."
"...Ah...auk."
Minjun couldn't say anything, only drooling saliva mixed with blood.
The school nurse... no, the homeroom teacher waved its hands about, controlling Minjun.
Minjun moved as ordered.
Seeing such a Minjun, the homeroom teacher grinned widely and unbuttoned its shirt from chest to stomach.
Then, a space of black liquid was revealed.
Only its arms, legs, and face maintained a human form.
Inside, the homeroom teacher clearly held the form of a ghost.
The spewing black mucus swallowed the half-corpse Minjun like a slime.
Now it was time to slowly transform him into a ghost.
* * *
"Hwaah...!!!"
The Watcher bolted awake.
Having somehow fallen asleep, there was no one to be seen in the classroom.
"...What?"
The only presences felt were Yeonwoo beside him with a serious expression, and Hun's presence from the staffroom far away.
"You're only waking up now?"
So saying, Yeonwoo called to the Watcher with a sharp expression.
At this, the Watcher turned his head and spoke.
"Girl, what is going on?"
"...I don't know either."
So answering, Yeonwoo tore at her hair.
What was certain was that they were isolated.
"We must get out quickly. The brat has been taken, and the newbie is on the verge of being eaten."
"When did you see that?"
"...It was definitely around 10:30."
At these words, Yeonwoo sighed and pointed at the clock.
"What's certain is that bastard Park Minjun is already dead."
So saying, Yeonwoo pointed at the clock.
Seeing this, the Watcher couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
"...!!"
[8:30 PM]
He had barely even slept for what seemed like an hour, yet so much time had passed.
"...What, is this—"
"Right now, 12th period is starting."
So saying, Yeonwoo moved to the window.
She continued speaking, biting her teeth.
"...That means those things are real."
"What...?"
Desks cackling as they circled the sports ground, and many injured students.
And on the blackboard, a piece of chalk was floating alone in midair, writing something.
[12th period is P.E., go to the sports ground]
[12th period is P.E., go to the sports ground]
[12th period is P.E., go to the sports ground]
The chalk wrote endlessly like that.
Like a puppet, the chalk continued writing something.
"What on earth is real...?"
The Watcher seemed confused.
Yeonwoo was not much different.
*'What on earth is this... is Sion dying over and over again right now...?'*
Had there been ghosts on both sides?
If so, were they doppelgangers or completely different entities?
If they were all different entities, things would become much more difficult.
And if Sion had been repeating dying until this time?
A horrifying thought came to mind.
"...What about the brat?"
The Watcher asked Yeonwoo, who was deep in thought.
At this, Yeonwoo answered expressionlessly.
"He's been written off."
"......."
"Abandoned by the Administration."
"......."
"He was quite the expendable piece. Ghosts can't resist and rush at him. A fitting end."
So saying, Yeonwoo shook her head.
At this, the Watcher nodded.
"Is... that so."
"That's right."
"......."
"Go find the Chief. I'll cover you."
So saying, Yeonwoo prepared to draw her sword and slowly stepped outside the classroom.
The Watcher slowly followed behind Yeonwoo.