7. Horrifying Hallucination

* * *

Academy life wasn’t so bad.

This connection between you and me-

Well, it’s just a new feeling. Living as Yoo Eun-ha. Since I’m doing well both in the original story and at the academy.

To escape the heroine role, I made sure Han Su-ji knew I was a lesbian.

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t accept men. Though Su-ji’s sudden friendliness was annoying, I let it slide-it’s just a dream.

Then strange things started happening.

Looking out the window, I noticed something odd in the classroom.

A black doll-like silhouette by the desks.

It moved erratically, but my instincts said it wasn’t a ghost.

The original story wasn’t horror, and Eun-ha hadn’t done anything to warrant vengeful spirits.

So what was it?

I asked my dream academy friends.

“Maybe a spirit?”

“Shouldn’t you see spirits normally with your abilities?”

“Oh, right. You see it too?”

“Yeah, it’s nodding off by the teacher’s desk. Like it’s sleepy.”

Its posture was sloppy, as if sitting on an invisible chair, dozing off.

If Reina-a second-generation otherworlder who can see spirits-couldn’t see it, was it really a ghost?

“Maybe a Constellation?”

“Constellation?”

“Yeah. Mine mentioned some Constellations are… gloomy.”

This wasn’t just gloomy-more like black smoke. If that’s a Constellation, I’d refuse its power outright.

Definitely just a dream. Such weirdness couldn’t exist otherwise.

“…Ah, thought it was smoke, but it’s wearing a suit.”

The gloomy figure gradually took shape.

By now, I’d grown used to the strange shadowy “Constellation” that appeared since the weekend.

Like an eye floater. Telling myself “This gloomy thing was always part of my life” helped.

Its face remained unseen, but it would “evolve” eventually.

Another problem arose.

“Hey. Want anything? My treat.”

“Uh… a smoothie?”

Flame Spear Maiden Han Su-ji started acting clingy. More accurately, she began pretending to be my girlfriend.

There’s a saying: swallow what’s sweet, spit out what’s bitter.

Su-ji was nasty early on, but now seemed sweet enough to suck dry.

Was it the kiss? Or did she want more spankings?

When she brought a strawberry smoothie, I sipped it slowly.

“Hey, Su-ji.”

“Yeah?”

“If you saw black smoke only you could see-not a spirit or Constellation-what would you do?”

“A ghost?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“W-wait. Maybe… an illusion? Hallucination? Today’s instructor specializes in that.”

Ah, hallucinations. That person.

Never thought I’d miss my hellish school days.

I got the gist.

“Who is it?”

“Rebecca the Illusionist-ally of the Divine Sword, key figure in crushing the Villain Alliance.”

The Villain Alliance-defeated by Jin-seok’s group in the original, remnants later opened a massive Gate in Pyongyang. Rebecca used illusions to help dismantle them.

She might know what this gloomy thing is.

* * *

Rebecca the Illusionist, top-tier mage, teaches countering magic illusions.

Her appearance made us hopeful hunter candidates cheer.

Reina too.

“Eun-ha! I’m a huge fan of Instructor Rebecca!”

“Uh-huh.”

And?

“I said I’m a fan!”

“Do I need to care about your fangirling?”

“You’re the Divine Sword’s sister! Use your connections to get her autograph!”

“If I have time.”

“Promise?”

Ugh, annoying.

“I’m Rebecca, your magic instructor. Anyone slacking off gets cursed-impotence for boys, eternal period pains for girls.”

Fucking terrifying.

Castrating hormone-driven teens? Period cramps are self-explanatory.

“Mages learn magic. Others learn to resist it. No questions.”

I’ll ask after class.

“Today’s training builds magic resistance. Groups start next time.”

“What exactly are the illusions?”

“The worst horrors from your short lives.”

The worst horrors? Can’t wait.

My memories-Eun-ha’s bratty phase, my corporate slave life-what could be worse?

At least we finish early.

“What’d you see? I almost died in a forbidden dungeon.”

That guy was reckless.

“Getting circumcised again.”

Lucky him-that’s his worst memory.

Rebecca’s cheating. These aren’t “horrors”-just traumatic memories.

Original Eun-ha supposedly insulted her brother nonstop-maybe recalling their fights over academy enrollment.

“Next: top students-Yoo Eun-ha, Choi Si-woo, Reina.”

I’m relaxed. My nightmares are just corporate slavery and Eun-ha’s whining.

…

……

“Wha-AAAAAH!”

Everywhere-buzzcut recruits sleeping in perfect rows.

Oh god. Military service.

The nightmare looped enlistment day for what felt like an hour.

“Fuck. Almost died.”

The hallucination ended.

Overreacting much? It’s just boot camp.

Next came corporate hell-overtime, exhaustion. Then Eun-ha’s memories-whining at her brother.

Then-

“Huh? Wha-“

Silver-haired Si-woo swung his holy sword against a black doll-like figure.

The academy monster attack?

This was when Eun-ha died from an SS-rank core embedding in her.

I couldn’t move.

Like reliving that moment.

-CRACK!

The demon fighting Si-woo suddenly shoved a monster core into my chest.

“Ghk!”

“Better gamble on you than let the Divine Sword take it. Endure, and you’ll be reborn-or this academy falls. *Cough*!”

The demon died after forcing the core into me.

Agony erupted-bones breaking, flesh reconstructing. My vision flashed white.

This was death.

My body rejected the core.

The deaths repeated endlessly-trapped in bathrooms, kidnapped-each time different.

I screamed nonstop.

* * *

“KYAAAH! HAAAK! AAAAAH!”

Eun-ha clutched her chest, contorting wildly.

Without the screams, it might’ve looked indecent. Her expression confirmed otherwise.

“Damn it! What did you do to her?!”

“Are you trying to kill Eun-ha?”

Her friends swarmed, shouting accusations.

“Rebecca! You bitch! What did you do?!”

Instructor Kim Ji-hye grabbed Rebecca’s collar.

“I did nothing unusual! With her resilience, she should’ve handled Jin-seok-related trauma easily!”

“Bullshit!”

“Why would I lie? If anything, I went easy on the Divine Sword’s sister-“

“You’re favoring students as a professor?!”

“What do you want, bat-wielder?!”

Eun-ha, still screaming, was carried to the infirmary by Si-woo.

“No physical damage. She’ll wake naturally.”

Si-woo and Reina-who’d unofficially claimed Eun-ha as friend/rival-sighed in relief.

Then glared at Rebecca.

“Explain this, Professor!”

Rebecca scratched her head.

Teens were troublesome.

“I’ll explain after assessing her.”

Rebecca frowned at Eun-ha.

Noticing this, Kim Ji-hye asked privately after others left:

“What’s wrong? This isn’t normal. Did something happen to Eun-ha?”

“Kim Ji-hye. She is Eun-ha, right? But too much doesn’t add up.”

She must be Eun-ha. Yet…

“Spit it out.”

“You know illusionists see what subjects see, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did she experience hundreds of different deaths? I lost count midway.”

Why? Why would she hallucinate dying hundreds of ways?