“Hi, what was your name again?”
“It’s Aesha…”
“Aesha…”
I wanted to just ignore him and pass by, but I was taken aback by Yoon Si-woo’s approach. Since the conversation was initiated, I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“Well, we haven’t really talked since that sparring match.”
“Ah, yeah.”
It’s uncomfortable.
I wonder if there was really a need to have a conversation since we’re in different classes.
“By the way, you were better at fighting than I expected back then.”
“I wasn’t really good at fighting; I was almost defeated…”
I try to keep the conversation going, but the frustrating lack of progress lingers.
It feels like they want to say something but are going in circles.
So I ask directly.
“Is there something you want to say?”
Then the question erupts almost immediately.
“Um… have we seen each other somewhere before?”
I ponder the question of whether we’ve met before.
She seems somewhat familiar, but I’m unsure if I actually saw her… No, I don’t even know if this is the same girl I’ve seen.
Isn’t it said that if you can’t recall someone correctly, it’s not an important memory?
So I deny it.
“I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Really? Well, since we’re in the same grade, you can speak informally.”
“I’ll pass.”
I inherently dislike those who are well-off or superior.
Being around such people makes me feel like my own value diminishes.
It’s as if I’m a stepping stone that makes them shine even brighter.
Of course, had I not skewed my traits, I might have been over there with them, but in any case, I dislike it.
“…Alright.”
“But do you live around here?”
“Not really, I just came to buy food, and this is the only store open nearby.”
Well, considering this store is open until midnight unlike others, I can understand.
“Ah, and I heard a rumor that someone spilled a tray on you?”
“Yeah, that seems to have happened.”
I’m sure that incident occurred this morning, but what’s past is past.
It was my first experience with school bullying, but Noah handled it well, and since I didn’t get hurt, I’d forgotten about it by now.
“But still, it’s such an event… can you really just forget about it easily?”
“What’s the point of remembering a situation that cannot be resolved?”
Yeah, perhaps this positive mindset might be the most essential element for living in this world.
No matter how tough and painful it gets, just forget, and do my best in what I can.
“Being bound by the past is what fools do.”
“Is that so?”
I’ve long forgotten my past life, haven’t I?
Of course, this might be one of the effects of a curse, but considering I view this positively, there’s no serious thought needed here.
At that moment, I noticed a slight stiffening in his expression.
His face turned pale as if he was about to soil himself.
Then came an unexpected question.
“Do you, by any chance, know about the End?”
“Huh?”
When it comes to the End… the only thing that comes to mind is one thing; could it be that Yoon Si-woo is one of those doomsayers?
“Um… no? I don’t know anything about that?”
“R-Really?”
If so, that would be very dangerous.
It might not be true, but isn’t it strange to ask about the End out of nowhere?
“Why do you ask?”
“Just… asking.”
“Um, I’m busy now, so I’ll be leaving first.”
“Wait!”
Judging from his anxiety, I decided it was unwise to continue the conversation, and I turned around to conceal my racing heart, bought the alcohol, and ran home.
***
Yoon Si-woo.
He thinks to himself every night.
Who are you?
What do you live for, and what path are you walking?
To this question, Yoon Si-woo answers.
“I don’t know.”
A question that arises in his mind every night.
‘Who am I?’
It feels as if he was born into this world at some moment without any purpose.
The scenery and people around him are entirely unfamiliar.
Yet, despite that, he finds it strange to see himself naturally talking and moving around them.
No, he can’t even comprehend why he feels this way in the first place.
[Traits: The Anomaly (???) limits your actions.]
Yet, despite feeling this way every night, once he falls asleep, all thoughts and struggles from the previous day are forgotten.
As he walks on, he arrives at the splendid accommodations awarded to the top-ranking.
Various services, meals provided, and upscale facilities.
When he opens the refrigerator, it’s filled with food and seasonings purchased with academy sponsorship funds.
“No milk.”
He can call someone to order it as a service, but now it’s too late. Even though he’s encouraged to use the facilities freely, he had no intention of bossing anyone around.
Thus, he heads toward the nearest open store to browse the items.
Naturally, since this too can be bought with sponsorship from the academy, there are no material difficulties.
[Top Grade Milk! Nationally Certified AAA Grade]
“I guess I’ll buy this.”
Just as he was about to pick the milk, he felt someone behind him.
Had his senses ever been this sensitive?
“…Ah.”
Once before. It was definitely when they sparred.
At that moment standing in front of this guy, he felt this sensation.
Was her name Aesha?
And when he looked back, the girl with white hair he had seen earlier was standing there.
She seemed less dizzy than before, but her face was slightly red.
Still, perhaps because her skin was pale, it didn’t feel strange.
He walks over to greet her.
“Hi, what was your name again?”
The name he hears afterwards is the same as the name Yoon Si-woo remembered.
Aesha clearly showed that she did not want to talk to him, yet he felt that letting this situation pass was not an option.
The fight from that time, and the victory.
The sensation felt while looking at the fallen girl.
And that sensation now was a sense of familiarity he was experiencing for the first time in this peculiarly unfamiliar world.
He had never seen someone like her before, but the moment he saw her, he felt he had seen her somewhere.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
So he asks.
But the response was a denial.
Was it merely his misunderstanding when this familiar sensation suddenly hit him?
‘This is…’
A sensation that couldn’t be explained in words.
It felt like if he lingered a bit longer, he could understand it, but there wasn’t much topic to continue the conversation.
If only they were in the same class, perhaps he would have found more to talk about; however, the classes were too far apart to draw out any conversation.
Fortunately, while she engaged a bit more in conversation, he was able to discern something from her.
[Traits: The Tree of Genesis (EX) explores the paths of the great.]
[This is the Whore of Babylon, the bronze serpent nailed to the earth from the heavens, the starting ground, infinite eternity, the pillar among those who are first, and the heart of that which comes later.]
[Passive:
[This is the root of the first tree.]
[The last trace of Genesis.]
[This is the funeral song of those who sing the end and the vanishing point of those who cry for destruction.]
[Your name is the End 終末.]
At that moment, something thick and black could be felt coming from behind the girl.
“You.”
That was something that definitely should not exist.
The moment he saw it, Yoon Si-woo’s face went pale.
What surrounded the girl seemed to want to devour her immediately as it swirled around her.
However, even as it attacked her, it had no effect whatsoever.
He could not comprehend what that was.
‘What the hell is that…’
Just looking at it stirred a sense of despair, a madness mixed with the end, and death.
And the girl’s body, untouched by a single finger.
Though she was squirming in panic with a distorted expression, her red face remained serene.
In fact, she appeared somewhat angry, perhaps.
What in the world is going on?
“Do you, by any chance, know about the End?”
Thus, he asked, but Yoon Si-woo belatedly realized he had asked the wrong question.
‘I asked too directly…’
“Um, I’ll be busy now, so I’m leaving first.”
“Wait!”
Certainly, he wouldn’t get an answer right away.
And the figure of the girl running away.
Yoon Si-woo could not catch her.
Misunderstanding and misunderstanding, right from the first button, they began to walk down the wrong path together.
***
He quickly arrived at the accommodations.
Taking a breath, he thinks.
Could it be that Yoon Si-woo also needs to be concerned?
He just wanted to buy some alcohol and disrupt the doomsayers’ plans, but things are getting tangled up.
It gives him a headache.
He just wanted things to go easily, but events keep escalating.
Gulp, gulp.
Drinking from one of the recently bought bottles, he felt a bit more at ease.
“Hehe~”
There’s a possibility that Yoon Si-woo is not a doomsayer.
But there’s also a sufficient possibility that he is.
“So what should I do now…?”
He takes a moment to slowly clear his mind and think.
The two possibilities: whether Yoon Si-woo is a doomsayer or not.
That guy is certainly strong.
However, he is not strong enough to forcefully fit into a flawed plan from the very beginning.
Thus, the plan does not change.
“We’ll figure something out, somehow!”
After all, the more complex the thoughts, the worse the situation tends to get.
And soon, he fell asleep, forgetting all about Yoon Si-woo.
