player POV-Chapter 74: After the Test

Ryun’s Point of View

Where am I...?

I slowly opened my eyes, as if my eyelids weighed tons, and the first thing my gaze fell upon was a pristine white ceiling, empty of any details. I stared at it for a few seconds, before a nearby voice reached my ears:

"Ah... you’ve finally woken up."

My body tensed involuntarily at the sound. I tried to lift my head with difficulty, as if the muscles in my neck refused to obey, then slowly turned my gaze toward the source of the voice. A man in medical clothes was standing nearby, his features calm...

So... I must be in the infirmary, right?

I tried to lift my head slightly to check my position, but at that moment, a sharp pain shot through my entire body, like a current of fire running through me. I clenched tightly, and had to lower my head back onto the pillow immediately, my breath caught in my chest.

The doctor spoke in a calm voice:

"You need to stop moving for a while. Your body hasn’t healed yet."

I lightly shook my head in response to his words, barely having the strength to do more. But before I could catch my breath, he continued in a tone mixed with surprise and puzzlement:

"Honestly, I’m amazed. Your survival itself is illogical. You were swallowed by the Red Alexander, and its stomach is known to be full of deadly poisons. Usually, none of its victims remain... so how did your body not decompose?"

He paused for a second, then tilted his head slightly, as if a dangerous idea had occurred to him.

"The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. This doesn’t seem natural at all... Should I dissect your body to understand what happened?"

The moment I grasped what he was thinking, my stomach turned with disgust. I shivered slightly, unable to control myself.

Disgusting... what the hell is this man thinking?

Ignore him... just ignore him.

The doctor continued speaking as if his thoughts had gone out of control, talking about poisons, body structure, and endless possibilities, but I no longer listened. I let his voice fade into the background while I sank into my thoughts.

I must become stronger... much stronger.

Strong enough to return to my brother.

My chest tightened at the thought. I didn’t know how much time had passed, or where he was now, or if he was even okay. Then another thought entered my mind, more pressing:

And how did Suwari get to this place?

Could he have come with me?

No... that’s impossible.

According to that will... he must have been here long before me.

My mind kept spinning, one thought leading to another, until a new possibility struck me. A thought that made my body shiver, and a faint tremor ran through my limbs. I held my breath for a moment, then shook my head forcefully, trying to push it away.

No... I mustn’t think about that...

I continued staring at the ceiling again, counting my breaths silently, trying to calm the chaos in my mind. A few seconds passed before I heard light footsteps, then the sound of the door opening and closing.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of comfort. After he had been talking endlessly for what felt like a long time, I finally had some quiet.

But my wish for peace... was not fulfilled.

Only a few moments passed before I heard a nearby voice say in a tone less irritating than the doctor’s:

"How is your condition? Do you feel like you’re okay now?"

I slowly turned toward the source of the voice, ignoring the slight prickling sensation that ran through my body with each movement. Then I saw him. Zion.

He was lying on a bed not far from me, his head slightly tilted toward me, his eyes staring at me intently. He looked a bit pale...

I spoke in a low voice, barely leaving my throat:

"I think... I’m okay."

I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I had no desire to explain further. Silence filled the room for a moment, heavy yet not unpleasant. Then Zion broke it, speaking again, this time in a serious tone, without any hint of joking:

"I would have died if that snake hadn’t exploded at that moment, so... thank you for saving me. I owe you my life. And if you ever need any help, I will be there for you without hesitation."

I looked at him for a moment without replying. I didn’t know what to say, or even how to act. I slowly turned my gaze back to the white ceiling and muttered softly:

When did I even save you to deserve thanks?... Ah, I remembered that moment.

I silenced my thoughts and returned to the quiet, staring at the ceiling, unwilling to continue the conversation.

...

"If you come here again, I will dissect you. Do you understand what I’m saying?"

I looked at the doctor, who was staring at me with a strange, shiver-inducing gaze. I didn’t argue. I shook my head calmly, while my thoughts said something entirely different: Dissect me? Go ahead and dissect your own ass, you bastard...

I left the place, heading to my room. The academy was unusually quiet, a suffocating calm. The hallways were completely empty, as if the place had lost its soul. The students must still be immersed in the shock of what had happened; some had seen their friends fall and die before their eyes.

I had learned from the doctor that Zion and I had been unconscious for a full two days, and that Zion had left the infirmary just a few minutes before me.

When I reached my room, I opened the door and entered, then closed it behind me. I threw myself onto the soft bed without hesitation. My body finally surrendered, as if all the tension had dissolved at once.

I lay there staring into space until my eyelids grew heavy, and sleep gradually took me... without resistance.

— Ding... Ding... Ding —

I opened my eyes with difficulty to the sound of the alarm that tore through my sleep mercilessly. I lazily reached out and turned it off, then raised my head slightly and looked at the time... freezing in place.

Only ten minutes remained before class started.

I jumped out of bed immediately and headed to the bathroom with unsteady steps. I washed my face quickly, took a swift shower, changed my clothes in a hurry, and without wasting time thinking, rushed out of the room toward the classroom.

The hallway was unusually quiet, free of the usual crowd, which allowed me to reach the classroom faster than I expected. When I entered, I cast a quick glance around and noticed that Rina hadn’t arrived yet. I exhaled unconsciously and headed to my usual seat.

There I saw Darwin sitting there. I paused for a moment, looked at him silently, then greeted him with a small nod before sitting beside him.

Darwin was surprised by my greeting and stared at me for a short moment, but said nothing.

From now on... I must change my mindset.

If I want to survive and return to my brother, there is no place for fear anymore. And why am I even afraid? If I fear death... I’ve already died once. So there’s no point in hesitation anymore. I will leave this mindset behind... and move forward.

We didn’t wait long before Lina entered the classroom with calm and steady steps. She stood in front of her desk, lifted her head, and looked in our direction. The sadness was clear on some students’ faces, and silence hung over the room in an unusual way...

Lina spoke in a low, understanding, and calm voice, carrying a sense of responsibility:

"I understand how you feel. Some of you have lost friends, and perhaps even siblings. But you must move past this. We live in a harsh world already, a world where anyone can lose their life at any moment."

She paused for a moment, as if carefully choosing her words, then continued:

"The academy will find the culprits responsible for what happened during the exam, and they will be held accountable for their actions. So lift these sad expressions from your faces, and try to return to your normal lives."

She gave a faint smile, as if wanting to lighten the heaviness in the atmosphere, then added in a lighter tone:

"Ah, and I have an announcement for you... in a week, we will go on a school trip, to change the atmosphere a little."

My face paled slightly as I made sure that what I heard was correct and not a mistake in my ears. Yet it seemed to me as if I wasn’t imagining it. A school trip... Is this an academy that never misses an opportunity to torture its students? Some might say, "You’re overreacting, it’s just a normal school trip," but it’s not like that. It’s not just a trip, because it’s the first real event where the customer faces the main characters. If what happened in the test was dangerous, then the school trip is even more dangerous. The academy must just want to reduce the number of its students; it must be so. I could only curse this academy...