Shrimp back (4)
A few days after the case was closed, all the students of Yoosung Academy gathered in the auditorium once again.
[-Class B Class 1, Class 13, Seo Ji-han.]
My name rings in the auditorium. I got up slowly and walked over to the podium. Facing the layer behind the podium, he read a piece of paper with gold leaf on it.
“Listing, Seo Ji-han. This aspiring hero is quick to judge even in an emergency——”
Layt, who had finished speaking soon, handed the certificate and shook hands. When I grabbed his hand, I could feel his forged grip.
“Congratulations.”
‘Gin Layer’. One of the strongest in ‘103rd Tower’. From now on, he was also a man who became Noah Park’s swordsmanship teacher at Yoosung Academy.
An applause is heard intermittently from behind. I turned around and bowed my head toward the audience. Rather than congratulations, there are expressions of dazed expression. why does he take it it feels like
‘Actually, I’m the only B-class.’
just don’t do it They seem to think that they are getting entangled by being next to them.
As they descended under the podium on the other side, the main characters of the game, such as Oh Yun-seong, Park No-ah, Arwell, and Aiden, who were involved in the Mine Incident, were already sitting in separate seats after receiving their certificates. This is because the auditorium is too wide to return to his class.
The seat next to Aiden was empty, so I sat down.
“Mr. Jihan.”
Aiden, who was sitting next to me, whispered in my ear. His hair touches and tickles.
“Are you nervous?”
“why not?”
“Your face is pale.”
“······okay?”
Then I touched my cheek. As Aiden said, a cold energy was felt in the palm of his hand.
“Um, I guess it’s because the auditorium is cold. I’ll go out for a while.”
“Then shall I follow you?”
“No, it’s fine.”
I stumbled upon Aiden and got up. Then he opened the nearby door and quietly walked out of the auditorium.
At that moment, Layert’s speech began. It’s a cutscene I’ve seen before, so I remember it exactly. It was a content to inform aspiring heroes about the ‘abnormal phenomena’ that Lairt had witnessed in the tower.
—The ‘Gate Appearance’, which should only happen outside, also appeared inside the tower.
This meant the double track that the safety zone disappeared as time passed and the protection of the tower collapsed. It was then that the worldview changed into a true apocalypse.
“ha···.”
I quietly closed the door and leaned against the wall and sat down. Then he covered his face with both hands and muttered.
“Fuck….”
In fact, I haven’t slept properly since that day. Because when I fell asleep, I kept having nightmares of having my sword pierced my neck and speaking her words. I couldn’t understand why myself.
With trembling hands, I turned on the status window and checked the perks section.
[‘D-16’ until reactivation]
The privilege, ‘a strong mind’, was activated at that time and continued to be maintained. The fact that this is active means that my mind is not talking. I wonder what will happen if I turn this off.
what. I smelled something I shouldn’t have and raised my head.
‘This smell…’
There was a smell of cigarettes somewhere. What kind of big guy is smoking near the auditorium?
I got up and walked towards the smell. And as he cautiously poked his face over the wall, he saw someone squatting, a short man in a black nun’s robe.
It was a familiar shape.
I checked my face and opened my mouth.
“···President?”
“Eh…?”
Hearing my voice, Astiel looked back in surprise. In his hand was a smoking cigarette.
Astiel saw my gaze and hurriedly lowered the cigarette to hide it, and his finger touched the tip of the cigarette.
“Ah, hot!”
tuk. The blown cigarette fell to the floor with sparks. Astiel looked at me, blowing his fingers back and forth. Tears were welling up in his eyes, as if he was in so much pain.
“her.”
I’m a little confused. This is the first setup I’ve ever seen. A human being called the student council president is smoking cigarettes while wearing a nun’s robe with polka dots. I thought her head was empty.
Well?
I asked the question that just came to mind, just in case.
“Chairman. Have you ever done this before?”
“Gol-.”
“Don’t say that! It’s really bad!”
. I guess ‘Seo Ji-han’ happened to find out about this scene too. To be honest, I’m not careful. Because I could smell it outside the auditorium.
Astiel put a heel on his burned finger and looked at me with a pitiful expression.
“I’m asking, can’t you keep it a secret from the clerk this time?”
“…don’t talk.”
What are you doing that bothers me?
I approached Astiel and squatted next to him. As I approached, Astiel looked at me, wary.
“…don’t you?”
“You don’t smoke, do you?”
“Sheesh. Oh, it’s a pity—”
Astiel lifted the hem of the nun’s robe with a depressed expression and rubbed the still lit cigarette with his shoe. He could smell the unpleasant smell of cigarettes with every breath he took.
“But what about the smell?”
“Smell? That’s okay.”
Astiel grabbed his hand and muttered while closing his eyes. Then his divine power flashed around this perimeter, and the smell disappeared like a lie. Among his divine skills, ‘Purification’ was used.
“Can I use my divine power like this…?”
“It’s okay because I repented to him and the Goddess.”
I closed my eyes and looked at Astiel praying somewhere, and opened my mouth involuntarily.
“Is the president good at consulting?”
“I’m good. I’ve always been a follower of Grand.”
5 seconds. Astiel stopped praying and said as if his repentance was just that much.
‘I’m sure….’
It is worth telling yourself Even when his colleagues were almost wiped out and Noah Park’s mind went out, Astiel endured her own sorrow and rather had the mental power to comfort Noah Park.
Looking at it now, it doesn’t seem like it at all.
“Well, then, please listen to me at the cost of silence.”
I spoke out with the feeling of catching straw.
“…because I killed one of the demons?”
“Um, okay?”
“Before I stopped breathing, of course I was alive.”
“I will.”
Astiel glanced at me and turned his head to accept my words.
“The last time I stabbed Jack, it was nothing. But Main…. No, when I tried to kill Gide, I stopped without realizing it. Well.”
As I was suddenly speechless, Astiel asked me this time.
“Are you close?”
“No. Rather—, it was the first night. But it was like that. Lately, every time I sleep, I have nightmares…”
I looked at my hand. Still trembling faintly.
“You look anxious.”
“Yeah. I think so. Besides, the guys who went through the incident are okay, but I’m the only one who is like this—”
“I think that’s normal.”
“···Yes?”
Astiel slowly reached out and grabbed my trembling hand.
“That’s the usual reaction.”
My hands are small, so I couldn’t cover all of my hands, but somehow it felt as strong as a layer.
Astiel said with a serious expression.
“Ged. And Cain and Isu. Even if those children became magicians, they were aspiring heroes of the Yoosung Academy that I attended with just a few days ago, and they were someone’s friends. They were of poor quality, but now the auditorium is giving them a prize for killing them. . . . I’m not sure about that part.”
Astiel saw the certificate in my hand and hurriedly continued.
“Oh, it’s not that you’re wrong…”
“Is this normal?”
“Yes. I think yes.”
“…that’s right.”
“That’s right. I’m normal.”
In response to my answer, Astiel nodded with a confused expression.
“I’m glad you understood quickly, but… are you okay?”
I turned on my phone and immediately disabled the perks. Then the unpleasant emotions that had been blocked by the dam rushed in at once.
Naturally, I couldn’t stand it, so I ran straight to the corner and vomited the reflux of gastric juice.
“Hey, are you okay?!”
Astiel, startled, rushed over and wiped his back. His stomach turned upside down and his physical condition was the worst, but his head was just as refreshing.
Now I knew what the discomfort I was feeling was. I was worried because I was the only one suffering from reactions that other guys couldn’t see.
Just a few weeks ago, I wasn’t an aspiring hero, I was an ordinary person. Even if this world is a game, it is a reality for me now. You killed a life, but this reaction is probably normal.
‘Even if I became the body of the Awakened, the spirit I’ve been living in is different from the aspiring heroes.’
Without realizing it, I was thinking that I was identified with them.
Whoa. I sighed and said to Astiel.
“Thank you. Chairman.”
“…I don’t know what I’m thankful for. Now.”
Astiel put his hand on my chest and let out the divine power. His cold body quickly warmed up.
“The blood color is back. I’m glad.”
I looked up and raised my hand. no longer trembled
The sense of heterogeneity felt in the difference between physical and mental states disappeared with this.
“Yeah. Take care of yourself.”
Astiel and I quietly entered the auditorium, greeted each other, and parted. As I cautiously returned to my seat, Aiden looked at me and whispered in my ear.
“Why did you come in with the president?”
“I met you outside.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes.
“I think something must have happened. Seeing the color of his face returned.”
“… no, not really?”
I gulped down at Aiden’s reaction. It’s frighteningly fast…
In the meantime, Layette was still speaking on the podium as if his words had not been finished.
‘Ha-am.’
I was already barely holding back the yawning. Was this cutscene this long? Originally it should have been over.
Around the time I started to feel uncomfortable about the cutscenes of the layer I remember.
“—So, to face this threat, I plan to organize a new class unlike the existing Class A, B, and C. The instructor in charge will be me and Layette.”
I realized that something had changed.
