### Chapter 134 – Room 107, The Gate Room – ‘Perfect Life’ (25)
—
Kim Ahri
— Ding ding ding!
I woke up to the sound of an alarm.
Dazed, I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, washing my hair and face to clear my head.
In the mirror, I saw a stunning girl who looked like she jumped out of a creative work!
…Time to head out.
I fiddled with the pendant around my neck and stepped out of the bathroom.
After getting dressed, the savory smell of fried eggs filled the house.
“You’re awake? Come set the table.”
Mom was busy preparing breakfast.
‘How curious. Mom seems so grown-up.’
?
I suddenly had a strange thought. Of course, Mom is an adult—what was I even thinking?
Fried eggs with some side dishes and rice.
It was a simple but hearty breakfast. Just as I was about to head out the door, Mom lightly hugged me and ruffled my hair.
“Go get ‘em today!”
“Ah! Mom~ don’t do that!”
“Just kidding.”
With her silvery hair flowing to her waist, red eyes, and softly curving eyebrows, Mom looked unbelievably beautiful as I stepped out the door.
Strangely, a tear dropped from my eye.
While I was running to school, a familiar voice called out to me.
“Ahri!”
Who is that? The name—oh, it’s Dasul!
I chatted away with my childhood friend, Dasul, as we walked to school.
‘Seo Dasul must have died a long time ago?’
I’m having another weird thought. Dasul is right here, alive next to me.
Class was as boring as ever.
Over the decades, technology advanced so much that smartphones now outperformed ancient supercomputers, and the Administration Bureau could even send people to other realms. So, why are school lessons still the same after all these years?
…‘Administration Bureau’?
I think I just had another strange thought.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. As I stood up, friends gathered around me.
We were chatting and laughing about all sorts of things.
I mean, we could laugh for ten minutes just watching a caterpillar climb a branch! Kids these days can laugh at anything, even a falling leaf.
As we moved into the hallway, I noticed some kids pulling out their lunchboxes and gathering around the heater at the back of the classroom.
Should I have brought a lunchbox to put on the heater too?
…Lunchbox? They serve school lunches now, so why are they bringing lunchboxes?
Realizing that, I looked around and noticed the uniforms looked strange.
They had outfits resembling gakuran and berets, which felt like styles from the ‘80s.
My head was spinning. Something, something felt familiar.
I unconsciously fiddled with the pendant in my hand.
As I was about to sit back down to ponder, Dasul grabbed my shoulder.
“Ah.”
“What’s up? Deep in thought?”
“I just felt something was off for a moment…”
“Off? Did you have a weird dream?”
“Looks like it.”
“Did you see ‘You Who Fell from the Sky’ yesterday?”
“What’s that?”
“No waaaay! Everyone’s talking about it! It’s a total hit!”
“It’s a drama?”
“Yeah! The female lead is just a goddess! Look at this!”
Dasul whipped out her phone to show me a picture of the female lead from the drama.
With shimmering golden hair as if melted and coated in gold, and emerald eyes radiating life, she truly looked like a star!
I swear I’ve seen that person somewhere before.
Where have I seen someone like this?
The rest of lunch break passed with conversations about ‘You Who Fell from the Sky’ and the rookie actress playing the lead.
The weirdest thing happened around the seventh period.
— Flap!
Suddenly, with a loud noise, the window flew open, and a parrot flew into the classroom.
Everyone screamed in surprise, and even the teacher was thrown into a panic!
The parrot shot straight towards me without bothering to glance at anyone else.
I was so startled that I couldn’t react.
The parrot swooped right in front of me, aiming for my neck and trying to bite the pendant hanging there.
“Ah! Why are you doing this? Get off! Get off!”
Panicking, I tried to swat the parrot away with my book, but it didn’t budge.
I hit it with a much larger book, yet the parrot remained unfazed, shaking its beak at me instead.
Is it normal for birds to be this strong? This is way too much—can an ordinary bird do this?
Friends and the teacher rushed over, trying to grab the parrot off me amid the chaos.
— Fweeek!
The ear-piercing whistling sound made the parrot lift its head and react.
“Pero! Can’t you come back?”
I heard a voice from a girl somewhere that sounded a bit angry.
The parrot, ‘Pero,’ looked reluctantly at me before soaring away.
Amid the chaos, the class awkwardly came to an end.
Once class was over, a senior from the second year approached me.
With chestnut bobbed hair reminiscent of hazelnuts, and a cute and charming face, her name tag read ‘Yu Songee.’
She wore a mysterious-looking opaque bracelet on her right arm.
Strangely, she felt incredibly familiar.
This girl, who just moments ago controlled the parrot with a whistle and sharp shout, fidgeted in front of me.
“Um! Sorry. I brought Pero to school because my friends insisted I show them. I locked it in a cage, but they jested around and let Pero out. I couldn’t stop it when it flew away and did something weird. Sorry!”
“It’s okay. It’s just a bird, it happens.”
“It’s not like she’s usually a troublemaker. She’s a super smart parrot, but when the cage opened today, she took off like a rocket, and I couldn’t catch her in time.”
“Really, it’s fine. It was nothing.”
“…”
“…”
As we briefly looked around, we tilted our heads simultaneously.
I spoke first.
“Feels like we’ve met before, right?”
“I felt the same too. Do you live anywhere nearby?”
We chatted a bit, but we were from completely different areas and backgrounds. Yet, we both felt incredible familiarity and comfort towards each other.
Maybe we met by chance somewhere and forgot?
After that exchange, there were no more special occurrences for the day.
*
Yu Songee
It was a fascinating experience.
I faced a giant incident with Pero that I brought due to my friends’ insistence! I was shocked but just barely managed to keep things together and got some serious nagging from the teacher.
What was even more curious was when Pero went to apologize to a first-year kid she had troubled.
First off, I was surprised by the appearance of the student I met.
Hair like the night sky, pronounced features—most of all, bright red eyes that looked like they could bleed at any moment!
That was a look I’d never forget.
Isn’t this just an ordinary humanities high school? How could a celebrity-like person be here?
To be honest, I felt overwhelmed by her appearance that I had a hard time even speaking.
Then, I felt a sense of unexplainable familiarity and comfort wash over me.
This girl, like a princess from a faraway world, was so alien yet felt profoundly familiar.
I felt like we could easily joke around with each other.
But the most surprising thing was when she said she felt the same kind of familiarity and comfort!
After that, we talked about whether we lived in similar neighborhoods, or if we went to the same elementary or middle schools, but none of it matched up.
I was left pondering this strange experience while walking around the courtyard.
— Squeak! Clunk!
“Hey! Where are you looking?”
“Ah! Sorry!”
That was a close call! I got so lost in thought that I almost bumped into a motorcycle!
But wait, isn’t this the school playground?
The delivery driver was speeding at illegal rates, and now he’s scolding me!
After feeling a little anger bubbling up, someone called out to me from behind.
“Wow~ Songee, I thought you were about to get hit!”
I turned to see someone from my friend group, Ryuna, who had insisted I bring Pero.
“I was startled too.”
“Be careful. I heard a senior was hospitalized after getting hit by a motorcycle.”
“A senior?”
“Yeah. Have you not heard? Han Kain.”
“First I’m hearing about it. Is he famous?”
“He’s not that famous, but a few girls say he’s handsome.”
“Oh really?”
I turned back, thinking that might be the case.
…
“Ryuna.”
“Yeah?”
“Does that senior’s last name happen to be ‘Han’? Han Kain?”
“Yeah, that’s right! You knew him?”
“No… it just popped into my head suddenly.”
It really did just pop into my head unexpectedly.
No more special occurrences happened at school that day.
*
By evening, I went home. As usual, it was a peaceful day at my house.
As soon as I arrived, my fluffy companions Happy and Somi greeted me, having spent half a day napping.
While I happily spun around with Happy and Somi, a bemused voice broke through.
“Do you do that dance every time you come home? Can’t you see how dumbfounded Pero is?”
“What does it matter~? Pero can join in!”
As soon as I said that, Pero flew off to her room.
“Mom! Where’s Dad?”
“Your dad’s running late today. I don’t know why he’s getting home so late. He’s been busy at the hospital but still should be paying more attention at home.”
Mom seemed a bit sad about Dad being too busy with work.
Strangely, just seeing this scene made me feel better.
I remember how before, Mom wouldn’t care at all where Dad was going.
But… it’s probably just a misunderstanding. My parents always had a good relationship.
—
Right when I checked our family group chat, Dad had posted.
/Dear Songee and Yeo-eun! Sorry for being late~!/
That cheesy line made me start teasing Mom like a madwoman, and she blushed while kicking me, leading to dinner finishing just fine.
After quite some time, we ended up planning a family trip since it would be a short holiday with a public holiday mixed in.
After dinner, as I was about to head into my room, an odd feeling welled up in my eye.
…What’s going on?
Suddenly, weird memories popped into my head.
Mom and Dad used to yell at each other every day.
They began meeting other people on purpose and contacted lawyers.
What a strange memory. My parents always got along well. There’s no way that could happen.
As I showered to wash those strange memories away, I headed into my bedroom.
…
…
— Clunk!
I jolted awake at the sensation of my bed shaking.
In front of me was an unfathomable monster I had never seen anywhere before.
—
I promise to keep it updated consistently.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.