Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Just trust your big bro. If a monster shows up, I’ll smash it to pieces with a chair!”

“This bastard’s pretty confident. Guys like you are always the first ones to run when a monster actually appears.”

“You think I’m like you?”

Laughter rang out, easing some of the tension hanging over everyone.

It was certainly better than everyone sitting around looking miserable, but I still didn’t like the situation very much.

Something about it felt wrong, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit.

Those who agreed with each other quickly formed groups and left the classroom together.

Everything happened surprisingly fast.

Contrary to my expectation that we would immediately hear screams, not even the faintest groan came from the hallway for a long time after they left.

Only then did the people gathered near the door gradually move away and return to their original seats.

I looked around the classroom once more.

There were only around ten people left now.

They were all people who didn’t want to go outside.

That aside, shouldn’t they be back soon?

As I stared endlessly at the door, someone approached me.

“Um... it’s not that I don’t believe you, but... was there really a monster outside?”

I looked at her for a moment.

Her eyes still showed disbelief.

But beneath that was fear—anxiety over the possibility that some unknown monster really was out there.

I slowly answered.

“There was. I definitely saw one...”

“Did you see what it looked like?”

At her question, I remembered the monster I had seen in the hallway.

Just imagining it sent a chill down my spine.

Recalling that horrible sight, I continued.

“It was like... a giant with green skin all over its body. And it had huge tusks like a wild boar.”

“What, did you see an orc or something?”

I froze at the words of a man who had turned toward us while adjusting his glasses.

An orc...?

The woman I had been talking to narrowed her eyes and immediately snapped at him.

Apparently, the two knew each other.

“What are you talking about, you nerd? Please learn to tell novels apart from reality.”

“What? Nerd? Hey, listen to yourself. Does this situation look normal to you? What if some novel really did become reality?”

“As if that could ever happen. Maybe a wild boar escaped from a zoo or something.”

“What zoo is there around here? And zoos don’t even keep wild boars, do they? Maybe you should learn to tell reality apart from fiction.”

Leaving the two of them to bicker, I fell into thought.

A novel...

The man’s words caught in my mind like a fishbone stuck in my throat.

I couldn’t understand why.

What was so special about the word novel?

As I kept thinking about it, a strange sentence suddenly surfaced in my mind.

「I should never have gone to the rooftop.」

What the hell is this...?

Goosebumps rose all over my body.

And at that exact moment—

Clack, clack! Clack, clack!

The doorknob suddenly began shaking violently.

My body jerked in shock.

I pressed a hand against my pounding chest and held my breath.

Even the two people who had been arguing immediately fell silent and stared at the door.

The sound of the doorknob turning didn’t stop.

Someone cautiously spoke up.

“...Could it be the people who left earlier coming back?”

A man approached the door, but someone else hurriedly stopped him.

“Wait! What if monsters are chasing them?”

“...What?”

“Are you still going to open it?”

“Wouldn’t that mean we should open it even faster?”

“Are you insane? What if we all die because of that—”

At that moment, the rattling doorknob stopped.

Then came a neat knock.

Knock, knock.

“There aren’t any monsters around, so don’t worry. Could you open the door?”

It was Han Siwoo’s voice.

My expression immediately brightened as I walked toward the door and grabbed the handle.

The man who had been stopping the others hurriedly shouted.

“Don’t!”

“Oh, come on. You’re loud. Why are you yelling?”

The voice came through the opening door.

My body suddenly stiffened.

Only my eyes moved as I checked who was standing there.

The moment I saw him, I spoke awkwardly.

“...O-Oppa?”

“Hi. Somehow, you’re still alive?”

Why the hell are you here?

“Hyung. Can we come inside first?”

“Oh, sorry.”

My brother apologized without hesitation and quickly stepped into the classroom.

Several people followed him inside one by one.

Two people from their original group were missing.

And two new people had joined them.

Looking at the changed group, the question of where Park Hyunwoo and Kang Haneul had gone rose all the way to my throat.

But I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

There was no way they had gone somewhere else because they had business to take care of in a situation this dangerous.

They’re probably dead.

Fortunately, they weren’t people I was close to.

If they had been, I probably would have felt much worse about it.

Clink.

The sound of metal striking metal made me turn my head.

It was coming from the bag my brother was carrying.

Wanting to distract myself from my complicated thoughts, I asked him a pointless question.

“What’s in that bag?”

“Oh, this?”

My brother answered cheerfully and lowered the bag from his shoulder onto the floor.

Judging by all the clinking, there was definitely more than one metal object inside.

What the hell did he put in there?

My eyes widened as I watched him pull things out.

Why the hell was there an entire pile of kitchen knives inside...?

My gaze moved across knives of various lengths before stopping on a frying pan.

Without thinking, I picked it up.

How did he even fit this in there?

“What are you planning to use this for?”

I turned the frying pan around, inspecting both sides.

Naturally, it was just an ordinary frying pan.

My brother looked at me and said,

“You can tell just by looking at it.”

“What? Are we going to cook something with it?”

“If you want to eat monster cuisine.”

“...Did something hit you in the head? Ah, sorry. You’ve been like this since birth.”

For a moment, I felt stupid for having taken him seriously.

My brother picked up a knife and smiled brightly.

“I was wondering why you were still alive. Turns out you survived because you wanted me to kill you myself?”

I immediately raised the frying pan like a shield.

That bastard looked like he might actually stab me.

Then, at that exact moment, a knife suddenly appeared right in front of me.

This crazy bastard finally did it!

Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Then I heard Han Siwoo’s voice.

“What are you doing?”

“S-Surviving.”

I cautiously opened my eyes.

Han Siwoo was holding the knife out to me by the handle.

“Just take it.”

“W-What am I supposed to do with this...?”

I stared blankly at the kitchen knife I had accepted without thinking.

My brother answered from the side.

“Even if you’re going to die, wouldn’t you feel less cheated if you at least fought back first?”

Only then did I understand why they had brought all these blades with them.

Honestly, part of me had already suspected it.

But I had still hoped I was wrong...

“Are you crazy?”

We would be lucky if we didn’t get ripped apart before we even had the chance to stab anything.

I glared at my brother with wide eyes.

He merely shrugged.

“In a situation like this, you need to be a little crazy—”

“Excuse me. Can we talk for a moment?”

An unwanted guest interrupted our conversation.

It was the man who had tried to stop me from opening the door earlier.

He spoke in a clearly dissatisfied voice.

Naturally, his eyes were fixed on me.

“Why did you do that earlier?”

Situations like this made me extremely uncomfortable.

When I remained silent, the man gave a hollow laugh and continued.

“You do realize you’re not the only person here, right? Do you know you almost got everyone in this room killed?”

Thinking about it rationally, I couldn’t say I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

I understood his point.

But being openly criticized like this made it difficult to respond nicely.

I shot back,

“Then were you planning to never let any of the people who went outside back in?”

“Yes. At least not until I was sure it was safe outside. They could’ve been running away from a monster.”

Countless replies immediately came to mind.

Han Siwoo would never do something like that.

If there had been a monster outside, there was no way we wouldn’t have noticed.

And if we wasted time hesitating at the door, wouldn’t that only give monsters more time to gather?

But...

Did I really have the right to say any of that?

I had already turned my back on someone before.

When it came to people who weren’t my people, maybe I wasn’t all that different from this man.

When I remained silent, he delivered one final remark.

“Next time, instead of apologizing afterward, I hope you’ll show it through your actions.”

My brother watched the man walk away and clicked his tongue.

“Why are you just standing there listening to that crap? You’re always yelling back at me without hesitation.”

Hah.

I couldn’t tell whether he was trying to comfort me or pick a fight.

Strangely enough, though, I felt a little less irritated.

I gave a helpless laugh and muttered,

“Yeah. I wonder why.”

The small argument made the atmosphere awkward for a while.

But it didn’t last long.

As Han Siwoo began explaining what had happened in the hallway, everyone gradually became absorbed in his story.

Park Hyunwoo’s death.

The new monster they had encountered in the hallway.

And Kang Haneul, whom they had become separated from along the way.

And then—

“...Then we can’t get out of the building?”

I had half expected it already.

But hearing it confirmed still came as a shock.

“Probably not.”

Han Siwoo continued explaining everything that had happened.

Once he finished, I told them what had happened here while they were gone.

“So everyone went to the rooftop?”

“Well... judging by things, their real destination might’ve been the bathroom.”

I tried to joke in an attempt to lighten the gloomy mood.

Strangely, no one laughed.

“Did you see anyone else on your way here?”

“No. Maybe everyone’s hiding in their classrooms and refusing to come out. We didn’t see a single person.”

I sighed at my brother’s answer.

“Honestly, that’s the normal thing to do. Who would willingly go out into the hallway in a situation like this?”

Since all the classroom doors had been locked, there was a good chance the people inside the other rooms had also seen the monsters.

If they still had their wits about them, there was no reason for them to deliberately put themselves in danger.

“For something that’s supposed to be normal, half the people in this classroom already went outside. Do you really think the other classrooms are any different?”

“Well... you have a point, but...”

Han Siwoo looked at us.

Then he spoke.

“Let’s go to the rooftop too.”

My eyes flew wide open.