/
In the end, Seo Dawon and I went to the restaurant in the second floor auditorium by ourselves with the bread we bought at the school canteen. Because I wanted to converse without the prying eyes of others, I was reluctant to visit the crowded cafeteria.
Moreover, for some reason, there were so many people who knew Seo Dawon. Even when we went down to the first floor to pick up lunch, I felt burdened because there were too many people speaking to us. It’s been a while since I graduated from high school; fortunately, though, our lunch was spent quietly since we were able to escape the crowd.
Seo Dawon followed me docilely without making a fuss. However, whenever we made eye contact, I felt embarrassed since his smiling face was so unfamiliar.
“Listen to me while you eat.”
“Alright.”
After arriving at the auditorium, I dragged Seo Dawon to the corner. There were piles of green, shiny sports mats; Seo Dawon and I sat on top of them.
I continued with what I wanted to say as soon as I saw Seo Dawon tooka large bite of his melon bread. 1 Additionally, I wanted him to take me seriously, so I hardened my expression and lowered my tone as much as possible. “No matter what you may think, we’re not in reality–we’re in someone else’s memory…”
Seo Dawon paused while drinking his milk and looked at me; he didn’t attack me or anything though. I made direct eye contact with him and asked him a question, “Do you know what a [Vengeful Ghost Memory] is?”
“Hmmm…Nope.”
“So, to put it simply, it’s similar to a dreamscape. Also, reality exists elsewhere. It may be hard for you to understand right now, but we’re in your friend Woo Ragi’s memories…In any case, the important thing is that we’re not in reality now. You were never classmates with me in high school! We’re…We met for the first time in a Dungeon. Our hometowns were also different.”
“……”
Once I began talking, I began explaining the situation to Seo Dawon in earnest.
However, in order to explain the [Vengeful Ghost Memory], I inevitably had to talk about the betrayal and death that Seo Dawon had suffered. I couldn’t explain this situation without that context.
I carefully brought that story up and observed Seo Dawon, whose eyes were gleaming as if he had just heard something interesting, but, other than that, there was no change in his complexion. Of course, I had expected this reaction, but it was still a big shock that Seo Dawon didn’t react at all to my words.
Eventually, Seo Dawon acted as if he was listening to some other poor sod’s life story until the end of my explanation. I added a few vaguely sharp retorts at the mage throughout the story, but, for the most part, his eyes were narrowed, measuring me (with a face that plainly stated he thought I was playing a joke). It was obvious that Seo Dawon didn’t listen to me sincerely.
At the very least, he wasn’t making sarcastic remarks–maybe because of my desperate tone–but…Hopeless, I grabbed onto Seo Dawon’s shoulders and continued my ardent explanation. “…Fine. Then let’s move past the parts that are hard to understand. Instead, was there anything that made you feel off recently?”
“No.”
He answered without even a second’s worth of hesitation. If Seo Dawon weren’t a masterclass actor, the ‘Seo Dawon’ in front of me ‘now’ really had no memory of all this.
Speechless, my mouth clamped shut and I fell into contemplation. It was the first time the [Vengeful Ghost Memory] had ever played out like this. This was very different from the previous contracts and, still, I couldn’t see hide nor tail of Woo Ragi.
Did the system intervene?
Or maybe this was ‘Woo Ragi’s’ intervention?
Of course, either way, there must be some reason that I was being shown a scene like this. Furthermore, there must be some way to exit this memory. I could vaguely predict that if I continued until the end of the ‘scene’ or if I found some serious loophole, the memory would be broken, and the underlying truth would be revealed.
‘A loophole…’
After thinking that far, I fixed my gaze on Seo Dawon who was blatantly staring right back.
‘As expected, the core of this memory must be ‘Seo Dawon.'”
That fact was obvious from a shallow glance at this strange situation. The school uniform, even the structure of the school building was consistent with my high school experience, but I swore Seo Dawon was never a part of that stage in my life.
Seo Dawon even acted like he was dating me in this memory; if I were to try and find something that didn’t fit, I could find discrepancies almost immediately. Should I say this memory was like a distortion of my high school experience?
‘Therefore… I’m almost certain Seo Dawon is some kind of a hint…’
Then, what on earth could that hint be pointing me to?
He didn’t react at all to my provocations about [Red Lotus] or the [contract]; I needed to provoke him in a different way, but nothing came to mind.
However, Seo Dawon suddenly talked to me who was still lost in thought. “What’s with you? Why are you so serious?”
It was as if he were asking, ‘Until when will you continue this joke?’
‘…This bastard, he was totally listening half-heartedly, wasn’t he?’
Furiously, I responded immediately, “I’m not joking!”
“Who said you were?”
""
“Did you listen to me sincerely?”
“Honestly…this is a bit hard for me to take seriously.”
“Haah….”
That punk didn’t hide that he had no idea what was going on from the very beginning. I swallowed my ensuing words because I didn’t have the energy to argue further.
However, Seo Dawon didn’t stop there and asked, “Did you fall asleep while playing games?”
“It’s not like that…! Hey, watch carefully.” Frustrated, I went to my last resort–using a skill. As expected, one’s actions are worth more than a thousand words.
“……Huh?” However, suddenly I couldn’t think of the activation keywords for the [skill]; it was as if my head was emptied. So, I tried to manifest my stat window, but the window, which had usually appeared automatically as soon as I thought about it, remained absent no matter how hard I tried.
“W-What… Status Window!” I shouted.
“Hmm.”
“Why… Why isn’t it working…” I shouted–desperate, like I had been driven into a corner–but nothing changed.
For me who thought of my skills as a steady last resort, this failure was like a bolt from the blue. Shock silenced me.
Seo Dawon stared a bit before speaking, “Is your ESP not working?”
""
I could hear the amusement buried in his question. Though I had not recovered from the shock, I still reflexively responded, “It’s not ESP; it’s a skill…”
“Same thing.”
Hearing those words, I stood up abruptly. Those words–it was like… It sounded like [skills] didn’t exist in this world. Anxious, I pointed at him, nitpicking, “……No way. You don’t know what a [User] is, do you?”
“Yeah. Actually, I couldn’t understand you starting from your story about dungeons.”
His answer threw me into despair.
* * *
From the end of lunch to my last class, my soul had left my body.
Within this fabricated memory, Dungeons, Users, nor Monsters existed. It was like the world before dungeons had ever appeared.
After seeing how pale I was, Seo Dawon asked if I wanted to leave class early and visit the hospital. His face conveyed pure worry, but the more affectionate he acted, the more hopeless I became.
‘…When can I escape this memory?’
At first, I was confident that escaping wouldn’t be too difficult, but… Now, I could see no possible exit.
‘Should I trust the Seo Dawon on the outside?…Then, what should I do until Seo Dawon wakes me up?’
And, more than my safety, if I couldn’t find ‘Woo Ragi,’ then this’ll be a setback.
The [Essence of a Vengeful Ghost] was a consumable item. In other words, even if Seo Dawon saves me from outside this memory, if I fail to summon ‘Woo Ragi’ at this time, I won’t be able to summon him ever again. Either way, the situation wasn’t good.
“You haven’t said a word all day long,” Seo Dawon said.
“……”
“You’re really not going to the hospital?”
“…Not going.”
I finished attending my classes, drowning in worry; Seo Dawon, who had been trying to make small talk with me all day, naturally walked by my side on our way home from school. He once again brought up the idea of visiting the hospital.
I answered absent-mindedly, still nervous about the change in this world’s paradigm–the absence of [skills]. Even if I went to a hospital now and got tested, I would be diagnosed with delusions. Even without seeing a doctor, that was the obvious result.
However, Seo Dawon did not let things pass by this time; he pulled my shoulder so I faced him, paying no attention to the wandering eyes of other passing students.
Even though I knew this wasn’t real…Everything felt so realistic. Even the feel of the passersby’s gazes and the mysterious fragrance that wafted from Seo Dawon as he leaned closer towards me.
Eventually, I shouted, face completely red. “Why are you like this all of a sudden!”
“You seemed upset that I didn’t believe you.”
“I’m not!” I tried to explain there was something more serious afoot, but I just swallowed my words. Seo Dawon looked down at me with an ambiguous look when I ceased explaining.
TL: Seo Dawon is reacting well to his BF being absolutely bonkers at him.
Footnotes