Chapter 131: The Wasteland (1)

“I know I’m overstepping, but I took care of the issue involving Gong-Ja’s brother,” Raviel said.

After the commotion, we gathered at the table. Both the Fire Emperor’s eyes were bruised. He looked like a panda. I had a bump sticking out on my head; Teacher had scolded me and smacked me in the head...

“Such incidents should be suppressed very early or let time take care of them. The latter is usually preferred, but time wasn’t on our side this time. There are no political scandals at the moment, and his concert was scheduled in ten days,” Raviel skillfully explained and ate the seasoned cockles from the shells using her chopsticks.

Raviel was using chopsticks in front of my eyes. She was right there.

Her fingers are pretty.

I was grateful for the invention of chopsticks. The chopsticks would probably be happy that Raviel was using them. I was sure of it. Though my stomach was churning at how politely she was treating that son of a bitch.

“Gong-Ja.”

“Yes, Raviel?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Raviel said, looking genuinely troubled. “Avert your eyes or look down. I’m talking to your parents, so I don’t want to do anything unseemly in front of them.”

“Okay...” I looked down and ate quietly.

What? These seasoned cockles were amazing. The Guardian really cooked this? Did he actually have a knack for cooking? Everything I knew was falling apart...

“Ah, you don’t have to be polite to him. He doesn’t deserve that kind of respect. Just call him a dickhead,” I said, motioning toward the Fire Emperor

The Fire Emperor almost spat the cockles in my face. “Y-you bastard, you’ve gotten awfully cocky while I was away, haven’t you?”

Teacher slowly filled her glass to enjoy it with the meal. “Actually, I’m a little baffled, Miss Raviel. I would understand if you did this for Gong-Ja, but, as you already know, Soo-Ha and Gong-Ja aren’t exactly on good terms. Did you really have to help Soo-Ha? You even had to use your family’s influence.”

“I didn’t have to help him,” Raviel answered calmly. “I just wanted to show you something, Father and Mother.”

“Show us? Show us what exactly?”

“You two are probably underestimating my love for Gong-Ja. To you two, I must seem like a chaebol girl having some short-lived fun before getting bored. Or maybe you think that our relationship is going to be just another high school experience and that I don’t care about its outcome.

“But I’m serious about making you all my family. There are also people in my family who oppose my relationship with Gong-Ja, but I ignore them. The reason I handled this issue is to show you both my ability and determination. Please give us your blessing for the marriage.”

Teacher smiled bitterly. “I wonder what my son did to deserve your love. Thank you. It's odd to see my son being loved, but I feel like I raised him right.”

“Wow, man. Are we really going to become related to a chaebol family? Awesome! My career as a singer is going to be smooth sailing. Hey, sister-in-law, several singers are heading to China these days. Can you help out my gro...”

“Soo-Ha. If you ever get involved in an incident like that again, I’ll write you out of the family certificate and disown you.”

“

Eh?

”

“No, that won’t be enough. Go find the person you assaulted. And then get down on your knees and bow to receive their forgiveness. I won’t acknowledge you as my son until you receive that apology.”

“M-Mom?”

I quietly watched everything around the table. A home and parents were things I didn’t use to have.

Raviel left only after receiving the blessing for the marriage and setting a date for the families to meet.

The Guardian guffawed. “Hahaha! I guess I should get you a suit, son! This is happening faster than I thought!”

Teacher and the Guardian were writers. After Raviel returned, it became quiet in the house. They were working quietly in the living room. With a cup of coffee by her side, Teacher occasionally wrote a few words on a manuscript paper using a pencil, lost in thought for a long time. I watched her from the side. Her face was serene.

The Guardian wrote with a typewriter.

Click, clack.

He typed rhythmically, frowning like an angry sea otter. Sometimes he went to the kitchen and made a cocktail for himself. It kept him company.

The world was quiet.

Why? Why is this the Constellation Murderer’s trauma?

Even when I went to school the next morning, I still didn’t understand anything.

On the way to school, students in school uniforms passed by. I found all of them familiar, as if I had seen them somewhere before.

“Good morning, Sunbae!”

Some students even bowed politely as soon as they saw me. Their front buttons were undone loosely. They were wearing either too-tightened pants or shortened skirts. No matter how I looked, those students who bowed to me were delinquents[1].

Wait. They were the Heavenly Demon Cult followers.

“I hope you had a good sleep last night!”

“The Four Demon Kings?”

A middle school student who looked just like the Moonlight Demon King tilted his head. “Four Demon Kings? We are the Four Heavenly Kings[2] of the Shinseo Middle and High Schools, Sunbae.”

“The hell...”

The Four Demon Kings were bullies in this world? And I was the leader of these bullies? This meant that the boss of the bullies from this high school was dating the school president from a chaebol family. I was going to lose my mind.

“Hey, guys... Please go back to studying. No, actually, you don’t even have to do that. Just stop roaming around in a group to bully others.”

“We’re behaving these days just like you told us after you started dating the queen, Sunbae! Because of you, we can’t even ask anyone to get us some bread these days![3]”

“That’s not what I... Forget it. So you’re telling me you guys are the Four Heavenly Kings. And you call Raviel the queen[4]?”

“P-please stop talking to us like that, Sunbae. It’s scary, Sunbae!”

The danger of losing my mind persisted even after I entered the classroom.

“Attention, everyone. Good morning, Teacher!”

The Black Witch was the class president. Just by looking at her neat uniform, I could tell she was a model student.

“Morning. Class president, collect everyone’s phones.”

“Yes, Teacher!”

“Those who hide theirs will be dead meat. I’ll make sure of it. Understand?”

The Viper was my homeroom teacher. Crookedly leaning against the lecture podium, he was holding a cane. His appearance made it hard to tell whether he was a teacher or a gangster.

I’m going to lose my mind for sure.

The Black Witch walked around the classroom carrying a box. Students stored their phones there, either voluntarily or reluctantly. Those phones weren’t smartphones; they were flip or slider phones. When the Black Witch approached me, she just passed by me without saying anything.

Huh?

I looked around and found out that I was the only student the Black Witch had done that for. The Countess and the Paladin—surprisingly, both my classmates—obediently gave away their cell phones.

“

Uhm...

Hey... Class president?” I called out, even though I was unfamiliar with that title.

The Black Witch turned back, looking at me with her black eyes.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t take my cell phone away. Here.” I stood up and put my phone in the box.

I felt very uncomfortable talking so casually to the Black Witch, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable. She also looked at me in surprise.

“So the beauty does change the beast, after all.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Please forget about it.” The Black Witch lightly shook her head and walked to the front row.

Standing by the podium, Teacher Viper cackled. “Wow. The day Kim Gong-Ja turns in his phone finally came. Guys, see? People don’t need to be nagged or whipped to be fixed. As long as there is love, humans can change on their own, so you should find your significant other once you go to university.”

The Paladin raised her hand. “Teacher, Kim Gong-Ja told me that he’s going to go to Seoul National University. He looked very serious.”

The Countess grinned. “Oh, that’s strange. He told me he was going to Oxford. He said that the school president is going to study abroad, so he’s going to follow her no matter what.”

“Hmm, so his safe option is Seoul National University, but he’s aiming for Oxford. Kim Gong-Ja indeed sees things differently than us, ordinary humans...”

The students giggled. It looked like the class mood makers were the Paladin and the Countess.

The Countess grinned. “Class president, be careful. You might lose your first place in the class.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” the Black Witch responded curtly.

Even though they were all wearing school uniforms, they were still somewhat the people I knew, so the atmosphere was strange. Actually, I didn’t know everyone. In the back row, the student I had met on the rooftop stairs the day before was sitting by the window. He had his notebook open and was quietly writing something down.

He’s from my class.

A breeze blew in through the window, swaying the curtain. The student was so small that the curtain could hide him completely. It hid and unveiled him over and over again. The thin curtain was like a barrier that kept the student a few steps away from everyone else in the classroom.

Someone else came into the classroom. It was the Chemist.

“Oh, hello. Everyone... The first class is math... right?”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Okay, then let’s start...”

It’s not even surprising anymore.

Yeah, what could be more surprising? The Four Demon Kings were the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Fire Emperor was my brother, Preta and Goldencup were also in the same idol group as him. The Chemist being the math teacher didn’t impress me in the slightest. Yes, it was certainly nothing...

The day went by in an instant.

“It’s Gong-Ja hyung!”

“Gong-Ja hyung! Let’s play together!”

As I left the school cafeteria at lunchtime, middle school kids came rushing in. They were the children I had seen at the Infernal Mansion on the tenth floor.

“You’ve been studying too much these days! Play with us!”

“Let’s play soccer! Soccer!”

These children had been tortured to death even though they hadn’t done anything wrong. Now they were middle school students smiling brightly at me. It left me breathless for a few seconds.

“Yeah, let’s play.”

I ran and played around with the kids on the campus. The high school and middle school were built next to each other. An old security guard was standing at the entrance to the school gate; it was Namgung Woon, the Murim Alliance Leader.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

During the afternoon P.E. class, I saw elementary school students returning home outside the school gate. They were the apostles of the Immortal Happiness Preacher. The students walked across the ginkgo tree road, holding hands with their paired-up classmates.

I couldn’t understand what was going on. I really couldn’t. The last class ended, but I didn’t go back home. I just sat on a bench on campus and blankly watched the students leave.

Everyone is alive.

In this world, the Guardian wasn’t a ghost. He was alive. I couldn’t even imagine what kind of novel he was writing... but he was alive as a writer. Teacher and the children from the Infernal Mansion were also alive.

The Fire Emperor still had an awful personality, but he was also alive. He whined a lot and occasionally got scolded by his parents, but he was human. Even Preta and Goldencup were alive.

I saw some familiar faces among the students leaving the school earlier—Hunters who had attacked the Indoor Librarian and ended up eaten by a tentacle monster to be shown as an example. Even those Hunters whom I didn’t know were alive. They passed me by on their way home from school.

This is Lefanta Aegim’s trauma?

Wasn’t this a good life? It was a world filled with happy what-ifs. Which part of this world resembled hell?

“There you are, Gong-Ja.”

I turned my head. Raviel was standing there, smiling.

“Raviel...”

“You didn’t answer when I called you on your cell phone, so I was worried that something had happened. You shouldn’t make me worry unnecessarily.”

I quickly took out my phone and turned it on. School was over, so I had my phone back, but I had forgotten to turn it back on. “Ah, I’m sorry. I had a lot on my mind...”

“You look troubled. I wonder what could have shaken you like this. Though I hope that I’m the only one who can create a ripple in your heart...”

I tilted my head back a little, and Raviel lowered her head. With the bench’s back between us, the two of us shared a moment’s breath.

“Raviel.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know my parents’ names?”

Raviel blinked. “Of course.”

“Can you tell me?”

“Your mother’s name is Soh Baek-Hyang. And isn’t your father’s name ■■■?”

When Raviel said the Guardian’s name, I couldn’t hear anything. It sounded like static.

Ah.

Of course. I didn’t know the Guardian’s real name. If this was a dream, there was no way I would find out facts I didn’t know.

I knew it.

During the break time today, I peeked at the roll book on the lecture podium to see if I could find the real names of the Black Witch or Paladin. But...

Attendance number 1: Kim Gong-Ja

Attendance number 2: ■■■

Attendance number 3: ■■

Attendance number 4: ■■■

Attendance number 5: ■■■

Most of the names were unrecognizable, covered in black scribbles.

“Raviel, this will sound strange, but I’m anxious. You’re from a chaebol family, so there is no way you would actually spend your school days here with someone like me.”

“You’re scaring me. What are you talking about?”

“Maybe... Maybe this is all—”

My phone vibrated.

Text: 1

Sender: ■■

Premonition struck me.

“I’m sorry, Raviel. Please give me a moment.” I opened my phone. After a while, letters appeared on the screen, which was too small compared to that of a smartphone.

—You’re the ones who killed me. Don’t forget that

you

did this to me.

I froze. It felt like the temperature dropped drastically. The next moment...

“

Aaaaaah!

”

A piercing scream rang out at the schoolyard.

1. This is from Korea's school uniform rules. The school had rules about what their uniforms should be like, so if they made alterations, it meant that they were rulebreakers. ☜

2. It was really a thing back in the past. The cooler titles students had, the bigger, more popular bullies they were. They aren’t actually called bullies. These delinquent bully students were called 일진(illjin). While bullying is in their nature, they were popular and had set trends before. They’re now just perceived as bullies. ☜

3. This is the most common example of Korean bullying. The bullies ask other students to buy them bread, snacks, or something else without giving them the money. ☜

4. The raw is 퀸카. It’s the mix of queen + card. It’s used to call the prettiest girl in school. The reason why card is used is unclear. ☜