SRW | Chapter 23

BAM!

“Aaaagh!”

A spear suddenly appeared from behind and slammed into the ground. The concrete floor caved in like crushed tofu, and I lost my footing, tumbling face-first onto the ground. My knees and palms were scraped bloody. Before I could even get up, I saw the monster raising its spear high and immediately rolled to the side.

BAM!

Damn… I almost turned to cosmic dust just now… Could this collapsible baton even block that kind of force? Even if I blocked it, physical attacks didn’t work on that liquid-bodied monster. It was a losing battle either way, but after all the hell I’d been through, I couldn’t just die without putting up a fight. Gritting my teeth, I raised my baton to block the next strike.

“Ghk—!”

Just blocking a single swing made blood gush from my mouth. Taking it head-on was way worse than I expected. I should’ve dodged… Shit, I’m really gonna die. What do I do? I staggered back to my feet.

Whoosh!

The monster swung its spear again. This time, I couldn’t even block. The strike landed square in my ribs. I was sent flying, crashing into the school’s outer wall. The impact made the wall crumble, burying me under chunks of cement. Internal bleeding, broken ribs, probably a shattered arm… Blood kept bubbling up in my mouth.

“Cough! Cough!“

The monster approached, casually flicking away the cement debris pinning me down before grabbing me by the collar and lifting me up. My body hung limp, completely drained of strength. Damn it, my vision’s blurring. At this rate, I’ll pass out soon…

Beneath its mask, the monster had no eyes, nose, or mouth. It was just an egg-smooth face with a half-mask. Then, without warning, the lower half of its face stretched open like taffy, revealing a void as deep and endless as a black hole. It looked like it was about to shove me inside.

‘I really wanted to live…’

They say your life flashes before your eyes at the end… If dying sucks this much, why won’t it even give me that? Does the afterlife discriminate too? Tears welled up in frustration. I could handle the pain, but my last sight being this bastard’s black-hole maw? As someone with aesthetic standards, that pissed me off. I’d rather imagine Kim Jaeyoung’s face. He was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.

“…?”

As I waited for death, tears and blood dribbling down my face, the monster’s mask suddenly cracked. Someone had reached from behind and grabbed it. A human hand. Since when could humans attack these things from behind? And with enough strength to shatter the mask in one grip? Even the expressionless monster seemed rattled. It twisted free just before its mask fully broke, dropping me in the process.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for impact with the concrete, only to land in someone’s arms instead. Forcing my heavy eyelids open, I saw who was holding me.

“…Ugh.”

I burst into tears without meaning to. I wanted to hug back, but my shattered arms wouldn’t move. I clung to him with my one good arm instead.

“Y-you… s-son of a… I thought… I was d-dead… Ugh…”

Wordlessly, he set me down. I tried to cling tighter, but he pried me off with unsettling ease.

Something was wrong. This Jaeyoung… felt off. That pretty face was undeniably his, but everything else felt like a stranger.

Kim Jaeyoung turned to the monster, which flinched back, spear raised but visibly hesitant. When Jaeyoung stepped closer and reached out, the monster babbled in an alien tongue:

[#$%$…! %$$(&…….]

Finishing its strange speech, the creature made no attempt to resist as Kim Jaeyoung grasped its mask. In an instant, the white mask crumbled in his hands, and the monster dissolved into a pool of transparent liquid. Kim Jaeyoung brushed the remaining mask fragments from his palm and then, standing there, gazed up at the red moon.

Under its bloody glow, his face looked eerily serene. He closed his eyes slowly as if he was savoring something. Every movement was unnaturally elegant.

‘Is that… really Jaeyoung?’

The thought sent a chill down my spine. Could it be something else wearing his shell?

“K-Kim Jaeyoung… ugh… come here.”

No response.

“I said get over here, now!”

He turned his head toward me at a glacial pace. The look in his eyes was so regally arrogant that I’d believe he was royalty.

“Kim Jaeyoung… Jaeyoung-ah, I’m hurt. I might die. Ugh—”

Another mouthful of blood spilled out. Summoning the last of my strength, I reached for him. Finally, he walked over.

Up close, his eyes were unfocused. He was looking at me but not seeing me. To snap him out of it, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked, but his head didn’t budge, like it was anchored in place.

‘What, is his head made of stone…?’

What do I do? How do I survive? Desperate, I gripped his shoulder for support and leaned forward. Then, I crashed my bloodstained lips onto his.

“…Ah.”

A beat later, Kim Jaeyoung’s eyes flew wide. The haze in his brown irises cleared, reflecting my broken, dying form back at me.

“…I’m hurt… you bastard…”

For the first time, Kim Jaeyoung looked genuinely startled. Maybe even scared. It was the most human expression I had ever seen on him.

“Eunsoo, Eunsoo! Stay with me, Sun Eunsoo!”

I fought to stay conscious as his desperate voice called me, but darkness swallowed me whole.

*

[Premonition Dream has activated.]

Without the system alert, I’d have mistaken this for reality. The dream was as vivid as always.

In the dream, I was bound and surrounded by monsters, the same humanoid ones that nearly killed me earlier. Yet now, they were protecting me. What the hell? Dream-me seemed resigned to this, going limp in their hold. The sofa I was tied to was absurdly plush, clashing with the ruined landscape.

BOOM! A distant building collapsed, dust pluming. 

CRASH! Another. Closer now, I saw Awakeners fleeing from someone’s attacks. Wait…that burly man missing an arm…

‘Dad!’

Dream-me lurched forward, only for a monster to shove me back down. No, Dad, don’t come! I shook my head, tears streaming, but he kept charging. A humanoid monster blocked him, only to be repelled by an invisible barrier around Dad. Just as his hand almost reached me—

—A hole gaped open in his stomach. And the hand that had done it… was terrifyingly familiar.

‘AAAAH!’

That hand… I knew it. Pale, long, large… Its owner stepped over Dad’s collapsing body toward me as I screamed and thrashed.

‘I begged you to spare Dad at least, you psycho!’

He wiped my tears with his bloodied hand, then stared down with icy calm.

‘Eunsoo… you keep looking at others instead of me…’

*

“Hah…!”

What the fuck?! Another shitty future?! What did I even do wrong?! I was still reeling when I noticed Kim Jaeyoung slumped against my bed, stirring sleepily.

“Eunsoo…”

He mumbled my name, hugging my waist. Normally, I’d shove him off, but after that dream… and since he did save me… I reluctantly patted his stupidly soft brown hair. He nuzzled closer like a damn puppy.

“This is… the science lab?”

“Mhm. Closest to the cafeteria… Brought the bed from the nurse’s office.”

He looked up expectantly, making my chest tighten. I hadn’t realized he’d go that far. In the original future, he got my family killed by Cha Yuhyeok. But this time, he murdered Dad in front of me. That “spare Dad at least” line implied he’d already killed the others. And all because I “looked at other people”? Jesus Christ, this guy’s insane.

His cold demeanor before the pharmacy trip had made me think he’d lost interest, but judging by the dream… his obsession had only worsened.