Ghost Story Club - Chapter 23: Fifth Ghost Story - The Neverending Fourth Period (5)

Chapter 23: Fifth Ghost Story – The Neverending Fourth Period (5)

“Backwards?”

GyeongWon was looking at me oddly.

“What are you doing backwards……?”

SunAh also was looking at me in a confused manner. I gave a fake cough and began to explain.

“From what we know, what is usually the most surefire method to wake up from a dream?”

“…Dying within the dream.”

GyeongWon answered me instantly, as if it was the easiest question in the world.

“Right. No matter what dream it is, you usually wake up if you die.”

Humans tended to wake up when faced with death. It could be called instinct, one that allowed people to become more alert to try and avoid death.

That was the reason that, no matter how severe the nightmare was, people wake up if they die in their dreams.

“But in this special case, a ‘dream within a dream’, that method doesn’t apply at all. Even if your mind becomes more alert, you only wake up from the first layer of the dream. When you wake up from your first dream, you are still within a dream. The situation then continues to repeat.”

SunAh started to nod, showing she had understood up to this point.

‘If SunAh understands, that means all of us are on the same page now, right?’

I decided to start telling them what my plan was.

“So, what I meant by thinking backwards was this. Even if we try to wake up, we’ll only wake up in another dream. Maybe the answer is for us to do the opposite?”

“The opposite?”

“Falling asleep within the dream.”

“……!”

SunAh’s eyes widened in surprise.

“In ghost stories like this, the endings all involve waking up somehow without any reason. It could be that the people involved were so exhausted trying to get out that they subconsciously fell back asleep.”

“They fell back asleep……?”

GyeongWon tilted his head, as if he was unable to comprehend that reasoning.

“I’m not sure what that would do… If you go to sleep, won’t it just reset to the beginning? To the teacher ranting—”

“No. It’s different.”

I strongly opposed his thinking.

“This is the place we go every time we wake up. The starting point, of sorts. If we were to fall asleep here, we could go one layer deeper into unconsciousness.”

“……!”

As if a lightbulb went off, GyeongWon jerked his head back up and started to nod.

“I… I get it…! A dream within a dream……!”

“Right.”

No matter how many times you wake up, you are in a dream within a dream. With that in mind, you might be better off going deeper into the dream instead. We would be trying to escape the repeating cycle by trying to get to a different layer in the dream first.

“Since waking up has no meaning here, let’s try going to sleep and into a deeper layer for now……!”

“Yeah.”

I nodded my head. Of course, we would have to get there first to know what we would end up seeing there. Still, rather than running around in circles, it would be better to take a step forward by heading into a deeper area.

“Then… Uh, do we have to prepare blankets and pillows and just… Try to go to sleep…?”

I tried to calm GyeongWon, who seemed overly excited about the prospect of escape.

“But there is still one problem with this method.”

“A problem…… ?”

He turned to look at me with a bit of seriousness. He may have forgotten, due to his excitement, but there were dozens of students surrounding us—silently staring at the four of us.

And besides that, there were probably nightmarish ghosts and monsters trying to kill us.

‘Trying to fall asleep in a place like this is probably impossible unless you’re some sort of Buddha.’

“What… What about the clubroom, Joon……?”

SunAh asked, sounding as if she were uncomfortable with the attention of all the surrounding students.

“If it’s there, it might be a bit more comfortable for us to fall asleep……”

“I think it’ll still be difficult.”

It was after the point that we had seen the Demon King from the clubroom window. Everything we could see around us was all within the space of the dream. None of the locations were real, it was just a mental area. No matter where we hid, it wouldn’t matter. The nightmares would definitely come find us and kill us.

“… I see. It would definitely be difficult to just lay down and try to sleep in a situation like this. And it’s not like we can find sleeping pills within a dream, either.”

GyeongWon was nodding away as if he understood everything.

“That’s right. I was thinking that we need to find a method to instantly go unconscious.”

“How……”

“For example, making each other faint.”

“Ummm……”

GyeongWon started to think as he fixed his glasses.

“What do you think? It wouldn’t be bad if we faint, right? Since we would be going unconscious without having to try to fall asleep in such a stressful situation.”

“Prez, sorry to interrupt, but……”

GyeongWon made an apologetic expression as he shot down my idea.

“People don’t dream when they faint……”

“… What?”

“It’s exactly as I said.”

He maintained his apologetic expression.

“What Prez wants is for all of us to fall asleep and go into a deeper layer of dreaming, right? But if a person faints, they don’t dream.”

“……”

I had a dumbfounded expression on my face.

“… Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“… Why not?”

I didn’t get it. If you lost consciousness, wasn’t it all the same……?

“Fainting and sleeping are different, club prez.”

GyeongWon started to explain further.

“Fainting is a phenomenon that occurs when blood flow to the brain is lost. However, sleep is a natural bodily activity that occurs when the muscles relax.”

“……”

“Dreams occur because of activity in the brain, so if you faint due to the loss of blood flow, your brain won’t be working. That prevents any dreams from occurring. That’s why you can’t dream when you faint, club prez……”

“Then what happens if we make each other faint here……?”

“Then we’d just be unconscious. Nothing would really happen.”

“Is that so……?”

I made a disappointed face.

“Then what do we do……?”

“I wonder……”

In the distance, I could hear the vague sound of my mother looking for me.

“With a rotten brain like that, you need an identical kid of your own to know what I’ve been through……”

There was no way that we could fall asleep in a desperate situation like this. However, making each other faint wouldn’t work, either.

“……”

We were looking at each other with very serious expressions. Even as we tried to come up with ideas, time was flowing by.

If we die, we reset. Fainting won’t work, but we had to fall asleep.

There had to be……

There had to be a way……

“There is a way.”

A clear voice echoed through the room. It was HaYoon.

“If we use shortness of breath to lower our oxygen concentration, we can induce sleep. Get up, all of you.”

“Wh-what……?”

She immediately stood up and walked to the back of the classroom. We quickly got up and followed her.

“Wh-what are we doing……?”

“Well, I—”

HaYoon approached the supply closet at the back of the classroom, opening the door and motioning with her head for us to enter.

“Get in there.”

“……?”

We were all confused, just standing in front of the supply closet. Soon, GyeongWon started to nod his head in understanding.

“Low oxygen concentration caused by shortness of breath…… I-I see.”

“What?”

GyeongWon turned around and started to quickly explain it to SunAh and me.

“You know how there tends to be a lot of traffic accidents on the highways due to people falling asleep at the wheel, right club prez?”

“…Yeah, and…….?”

That was quite the widespread fact. Accidents caused by sleepy drivers.

“One of the possible reasons for the sleepiness induced during driving is the lack of oxygen within the sealed area of the car.”

… A lack of oxygen.

“If you lose consciousness due to a lack of oxygen… It’s definitely not fainting, and much closer to sleep, club prez!”

“……!”

When we turned back to look at HaYoon, she looked like she wanted to know why we were wasting her time. She motioned for us to hurry up and get in.

“I’ll block the gaps in the door frame with tape. Hurry up and get in.”

“……”

As we just looked at each other, GyeongWon finally made a move and got into the closet. With all the brooms, mops, and rags in there, there wasn’t much room. He tried pushing it all to one side.

“Haaaa, haaa.”

He was barely able to squeeze into one side of the closet. If we emptied it completely, we might be able to squeeze in another person.

“Take everything out. We can put another person inside.”

I could hear my mom getting closer as she started shouting.

“You suck at studying so much, yet your personality is crap. You are lucky your parents can at least provide for you, ungrateful bastard……”

“Take it all out.”

“Here……”

We started to take all the cleaning supplies out of the closet to make room. With that, we were able to secure enough space for someone small to get in. SunAh would fit best.

“SunAh, you should go in.”

“J-Joon……”

SunAh looked at me with a worried expression. I nodded my head as if to calm her down.

“It’ll be alright. I can find another method.”

“Okay……”

Although she hesitated a bit, SunAh proceeded into the supply closet.

“Ugh, ah……”

GyeongWon and SunAh managed to squeeze into the small space, crouching in the dark and cramped closet. GyeongWon turned towards me and started to give a final explanation.

“Club prez. What’s important is that, although you should be able to breathe, there must be a low level of oxygen. If you think of a way while thinking of—”

Slam!

HaYoon ignored all of that and just slammed the door closed without even giving us an opportunity to say goodbye.

“Go find some tape. It should be on one of the shelves behind the podium.”

“O-okay……”

I hurried to the podium and started looking for the tape. The students sitting in the classroom turned their heads to follow me with their eyes.

‘Is it here…?’

I checked the podium but there was no tape, only the attendance list.

“The. Tape. Is. Right. Here.”

“……”

At that moment, the class president, who had been standing next to his desk ever since I had kicked him out of it, took the tape from his desk and handed it to me.

“I. Was. Using. It. So. It. Was. In. My. Desk.”

“……”

It was a voice with no intonation. I just accepted the tape from the blank faced class president.

“… Umm, thanks.”

Then I started running to the back of the classroom.

“Here!”

After I put my arms out to hand over the tape, HaYoon snatched it from me. I immediately heard the sound of the tape being pulled. She completely covered the gaps in the door.

“Haaaaa… Haaaa……”

“J-Joon……”

I could hear SunAh’s voice from within the closet. I tried to calm her down.

“It’s all right. Everything will work out.”

“O-okay……”

Would this be enough to cause sleep, instead of just making them faint? The only way for me to know for sure was to try it out myself.

“… Now what do we do?”

I asked HaYoon as I looked at her. HaYoon met my gaze.

“Only one of us has to go. We need someone to stay behind and take the sleeping people out.”

“I-I see.”

If we kept the sleeping people within the sealed space, they would end up dying. We needed someone to take the sleeping people out once they fell asleep.

‘That one person… Has to stay here……’

Staying there alone would probably be difficult.

“… Well for now, since there doesn’t seem to be a sealable space here, we should head to the class next door and use the supply closet there—”

“Duck.”

“This bastard!! Just like your father, where are you crawling off to?!!!!!!”

The moment my mom passed by the hallway, screaming, HaYoon forced my head down with her hands.

“……!”

Pit-pat- pit-pat

The sound of my mom running started to get further away. Not too far from the classroom, we could hear chaos—as if she had started searching the classroom next door for me.

“……”

“……”

The classroom grew silent again as HaYoon and I crouched down together. The only sound we could hear was the rough breathing from the closet that had GyeongWon and SunAh sealed within.

“Haaaaa, haaa……”

“Huuuu, huuuu……”

Leaving the classroom now was an act akin to suicide. HaYoon continued to look directly into my eyes as she crouched. Then, her long eyelashes started to bat as she spoke to me.

“I’ll be the one to stay behind. You should get ready.”

“R-ready……?”

She crawled on all fours over to her locker. After opening the locker door, she took out a pink recorder and came back.

“W-will you be okay? The person staying behind will……”

The person staying behind had to take out GyeongWon and SunAh so that they did not die, and also continue avoiding the monsters as long as they could. We had no idea how the situation would be twisted if we were to die while asleep on a deeper level.

HaYoon put her finger to my lips and whispered.

“It’s okay. Now sit here.”

HaYoon spoke, her tone suggesting that nothing important was happening, almost as if she had picked up someone else’s fallen pencil and was giving it back. She held up her recorder as if she were ready.

“Just breathe in the air I’m sending through this recorder.”

Using her slender fingers, she covered up all the holes in the recorder.

“… Um, hey……”

She put her light pink lips on the one end of the recorder and shoved the other end towards my face. As I saw the approaching pink colored recorder, I couldn’t help but swallow.

“… U-using something like this seems—”

“Breathe out all of the air in your lungs first.”

She started to rush me, trying to get me to follow her directions. I ended up closing my eyes. Well, it was good that someone was willing to stay behind.

Who would want to play hide and seek with monsters all by themselves?

‘Huuub!’

I put the other end of the recorder into my mouth. We were looking at each other with the recorder between us, as if we were playing the pocky game.

T/N: The pocky game is a game where a couple takes a single stick of pocky and each nibbles at the end until their lips get real close. The couple with the shortest stick at the end wins. It’s a couple game because it can end up with the two kissing.

Awkward silence settled between us.

“… Huuuuu…….”

Warm air came from the recorder. I breathed in that warm air.

“… Huuuup……”

Then I took my mouth off the recorder to breathe out the air I had just taken in.

“… Huuu……”

At that point it was more like I was breathing carbon dioxide than oxygen. Then I put the recorder back in my mouth.

“… Huuuu……”

“… Huuup……”

Once again, HaYoon began to breathe air into the recorder for me to take in, and I would take that air straight to my lungs.

“…Huuuuu……”

I would then breathe out again. We then both put our lips to the recorder again.

“… Huuuu……”

“… Huuuup……”

I could feel my lungs start to crave oxygen. My cheeks began to flush red. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was lacking oxygen or if it was because I had been looking at my very beautiful classmate the entire time, breathing in her air.

It was almost like I was in a daze.

“… Huuuuuu……”

“Cough, cough……”

“Don’t take a breath.”

As I was taking in more carbon dioxide, I started coughing. A very clear, beautiful voice issued a warning. Even as I coughed, I nodded to show that I understood.

“Cough, cough……”

Even if coughing out the air was fine, I couldn’t breathe in fresh air, full of amazing oxygen.

“……”

“A-again……”

I barely spit out that word and put my lips on the recorder again. HaYoon began to slyly smile.

“……?”

“… Huuuuuu……”

Why is she smiling?

But because of the lack of oxygen, my thought process wasn’t very clear, and I wasn’t able to tell what exactly was going on. HaYoon’s warm air traveled down the recorder again. I continued to suck up that air as the blush on my cheeks refused to go away.

I continued to grow more dazed due to the lack of oxygen, and my thinking seemed to stop altogether.

‘Where am I? Why does my head hurt? Why is my mom looking for me? Why is this beautiful girl giving me air to breathe? I must be her balloon. Oh. So, I’m a balloon?’

“… Huuuu……”

“…Huuup……”

I continued to take in the air from the recorder. Because I had no idea what was going on, and I didn’t really have anywhere else to look, I was looking straight into her eyes. She was looking straight back at me. I continued to breathe in that sensuous air, thoughts no longer going through my mind.

She was smiling, in contrast to the dumb expression on my face.

“……”

My face was completely red at that point. Her face had a bewitching expression on it. Unable to respond, I continued breathing that intoxicating air.

‘Why do you continue to smile like that?’

I think I had tried to ask that question, but I’m uncertain if I ever did. The recorder was still in my mouth.

“Huuu.”

“Uuuu. Huuuup. Uuuuu.”

The strange atmosphere only served to make her smile more alluring. As the single thought came, I couldn’t stave off the approaching sleepiness.

At some point I think I collapsed, drooling, as sleep grasped my mind.

“Huuu.”

“Uuugh.”

“Huuu.”

‘Please stop it. Stop breathing……’

As HaYoon made me breathe in her air, sleep continued to strangle my mind tighter and tighter. Then, suddenly, HaYoon removed the recorder and gave me the most charming smile.

“Pervert. Ehe.”

I was basically asleep and drooling like an idiot, but I might have given a smile of my own. I was so sleepy, and I couldn’t seem to move anymore.

The world was spinning, and then my eyes closed, no longer able to open at all.

Although I couldn’t see her anymore, I could still hear her bewitching giggles. I couldn’t tell if she was laughing at me or the situation, but I didn’t care.

I was taking deep breaths and I embraced the sleep grasping at me.

Huuuu. Huuuu. Huuuu.

Pervert.

* * *

* * *

“Did you understand? My point is that the belief that hamburgers are unhealthy is a false rumor. Rather, it can be said to be a perfectly complete food, with the perfect ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Why would bread, lettuce, tomato, and beef be bad for your health?”

Within an idle fast-food joint, GyeongWon, a rich young master who claimed to be elite was showing off his knowledge—gained from the internet—on hamburgers.

“It’s unhealthy because of artificial coloring and other additives? Saying that means you’re ignorant. In the past, once the fake news that MSG is bad for your health became popular, the owners of the mass media companies only continued to instigate these topics—howarethelightsoninthisstorewhenitsablackout—and when you exclude the french fries and cola, hamburgers are actually healthy food products. You get it?”

I was letting the words flow in through one ear and out through the other, and just roughly replied that I understood.

I had the feeling that something really great had happened to me, but I wasn’t sure what it was exactly. Next to me, SunAh was fixing her makeup.

Watching a female friend fix her makeup was quite the stimulating experience for a guy in puberty.

I ate my burger as I continued to watch the young-looking SunAh’s face become much more beautiful as she did her makeup.

“The easiest target for mass media to mess around with is the food industry. While broadcasts claim to be suing the companies, how much did they actually do? Other than being a bother for others? What’s even more disappointing is that the masses are all convinced by the media, and—”

“WAAAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

When I suddenly got up, shouting, the two also started in surprise.

“Kyaaak!”

“What is it? What happened all of a sudden?”

I caught and then spoke.

“This is a dream guys. Get your head on straight.”

“Oh, right!!”

SunAh’s bright red lips parted in surprise, her lipstick still in her hand.

“Agh! That was right! I remember now! We were trying to go into a deeper state of the dream……”

GyeongWon began to look around.

“Since dreams tend to start in the middle of something, I almost got tricked! But where is this place?”

“It’s a fast-food restaurant. The one in front of ShinLim Station.”

At my response, the two continued to look around in confusion.

“I see. I’ve never been here before, but to think I would dream about it.”

“It’s also… my first time coming here.”

I had an inkling about it before, but I thought that those dreams had my nightmares mixed into them. We kept meeting the monsters from the ghost stories I had gone through. And this fast-food restaurant, which only I had ever been to…

‘I’m not sure why… But this must be my own nightmare.’

“Ummm… But, hey. Uh, why am I… Putting on makeup……?”

SunAh mumbled as she looked at the lipstick in her hands. I could only remain silent at her question. As it was my dream, it could only be that I had noticed SunAh’s charm, albeit subconsciously.

“What do you think we should do now? Should we try going in a bit deeper?”

GyeongWon asked the question that mattered as he continued to look around.

“I don’t think this place has anything of importance here……”

“Yeah. I think we should try again.”

I nodded.

“We can only go in deeper, to try and find a way out.”

“Hmm… As I thought.”

GyeongWon crossed his arms in thought. This place was actually the dream within a dream. If we were to wake up from here, we would probably end up back in the classroom with HaYoon. If we were to wake up continuously in that classroom, we would only start over from the beginning there. However, this place was one level deeper.

What would happen if we were to go to sleep again and go another level deeper?

What would be waiting for us there?

“This time, I’ll stay behind. Club prez and SunAh should get ready to go in deeper.”

“……!”

GyeongWon got up as he continued to cross his arms.

“Why? You know more than me, so I should be staying behind……”

SunAh was flustered as she spoke up, but GyeongWon just smiled.

“Huhu, that’s not true. I don’t think there will be much more that I can find out, even if we go in deeper.”

Then he confidently headed towards the kitchen in the fast-food joint. We hurried behind him.

“I’m not the type that can react to things on the spot. I think my explanation of the situation previously is the most I can do at this point, and this right here will end my role. I think you two should be the ones to go deeper.”

“……”

“More importantly, club prez. Don’t you think SunAh is unable to hurt other people? I think I should be holding things off here.”

“You’re completely correct. I do agree with that.”

SunAh started puffing out her cheeks as she looked at the two of us.

“SunAh… is too kind. Haha.”

“Correct answer. Hahaha.”

“Hmph!”

SunAh jokingly acted as if she were upset.

“Huhu. Anyway, if the next stop is another dream, then you must send the club president to the next layer, Yoon SunAh. Take care of him!”

SunAh nodded, a trustworthy expression on her face. Now that I thought about it, I thought it was the first time I had seen the two of them actually have a conversation.

“Okay, here. When I open this gas pipe, breathe in the gas that’s released. With the large amount of carbon dioxide here, you should be knocked out quickly. I’ll move you guys out as soon as you guys go to sleep.”

“Okay……!”

Luckily, because it was a dream, there were no employees within the fast-food restaurant.

“Okay, here I go! Club prez, go and solve this situation!”

As if he had summoned a Pokémon or something, he opened the gas pipe.

“Got it! You just wait here while munching on some fries!”

“I shall!”

After facing GyeongWon for a bit, I nodded before sticking my head into the gas. It was a weird moment, one where I felt that we had bonded as bros.

“Huuuuup!”

“Ack! Cough, cough……”

***

When I opened my eyes, I was lined up with the students out in the schoolyard.

“Ooh. This place is…”

I saw that SunAh was right next to me, and she had just gotten up while grabbing her head.

The students near us were looking at the two of us. I helped steady SunAh and began to look around.

“This place is… the schoolyard… Why is everyone here……?”

And then, at that moment…

“Ah, to the newly admitted students of Nakseong Highschool, who I love, I welcome you. First, I congratulate you all for your acceptance into the main school. I am this school’s headmaster……”

FUCK! It was the entrance ceremony!!

“SunAh!! RUN!!”

“H-huh?!”

I just grabbed SunAh’s hand and dashed towards the gates. Behind us, we could hear some of the students scream as popping noises started.

“Haaa… Ha…”

“Heuk, haaaaaaa…”

We were the very first to start running. Since we were matching our pace as we ran, the athletics students soon passed by us. We could see a girl with dyed blonde hair and an unfriendly expression dash past us.

‘Ah, that’s Lee JinHee, who was smuggled into our club somehow… So, she always passed me while we were running. Since I didn’t know her face, I never realized.’

Just like in the past, I could see the security guard try to stop some of the students.

‘It’s time that I cause chaos!’

I shouted so that all the nearby students could hear me.

“The front gates are locked shut!”

I shouted again, to the point my voice went hoarse.

“The front gates are locked! The guard has the key!”

“Uaaaahhh!”

“Mister! Open the gates! Quickly!”

“Open the gates quickly-! Aaack-!”

As heads exploded in the surrounding area, the students lost all reason.

Their survival instincts had kicked in, so they all clamored about handling the security guard first.

“The security guard has the key! We have to catch him first!”

Originally, the students had ignored the guards as much as they could as they flopped around and tried to climb over the gates.

The guard was still strong for his age, smacking away some of the students as he shouted, but that wouldn’t amount to much in front of larger numbers.

“What are you guys doing, you crazy bitches? Why are you gathering around and stirring up shit? Go bring the teachers, the teachers!”

“Security guard, you bitch! Open the gates!”

“Fuck! Open the gates! Open the gates, you crazy bastard!”

Just like in the past, I used the gap I created by setting up the students and the guards into a fight. I had easily passed by the guard when SunAh slipped away from me and ran in the direction of the security guard.

“SunAh!”

SunAh seemed to have a fire burning in her eyes as she ran. As SunAh joined in as the students rushed to try to empty the guard’s pockets, the guard began to huddle into a ball to try to hide the key. SunAh then seemed to pull something out of her pocket. The security guard could be heard screaming in loudly pain.

“Kuuuuaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!”

The shouting guard was flailing his arms around, allowing SunAh to empty his pockets and run back to me with the key.

“Haaa, haaaa, here.”

“S-SunAh…”

As she was breathing hard, SunAh handed me a very bloody key. I had only shouted about the key to create chaos, but SunAh had misunderstood and rushed to grab the key for me! So, what did SunAh use to……

Well, having the key did make it physically less taxing to get past the gates.

“You did great, SunAh! Thanks!”

“Heok, heok, ehehe.”

Even as she was short of breath due to the running, SunAh couldn’t help but smile after hearing me compliment her work. Using the bloodstained key, I unlocked the padlock on the front gates and began to push it open.

“Uaaackk!”

“Fuck, what is this!”

Some of the students who were already on the front gates shouted in surprise as they swung towards the opening gates. On top of the gates, I could see the punk from the fourth stall in the boy’s bathroom and GyeongWon’s seat partner.

‘Now that I look at them, I recognize a lot of the students here.’

I continued to push the gate and, once it was fully open, I once again grabbed SunAh’s hand to start running.

“Heok, heok, heok.”

“Heck, heck.”

We ran a long way. We passed several buildings, and we soon ended up near the subway station, where there were many people. It was only after we arrived that I stopped running and began to catch my breath. I then let go of SunAh’s hand.

“Heok, heok, heok.”

“Heck, heck.”

It was only after we had spent a significant amount of time panting and breathing hard that we were able to normalize our breathing.

“Here… It should be fine over here… probably.”

“Yeah… Heck, heck……”

In a past life, I had survived after running this far. Although things could be different since this was a dream, since we were still fine after waiting so long to catch our breath, I thought we would be fine.

I could feel the passersby sneaking glances at us, as we were sweating hard.

“Heck, heck… Oh, this place was here……?”

SunAh finally looked up and mumbled something as she wiped off her sweat.

“Oh, you’re right!”

I agreed with her. We happened to be next to the fast-food restaurant, the one near ShinLim station.

Ring~♬

We entered the store, where there were several guests noisily chatting and eating, and busy employees scurrying about.

It was quite obvious, but GyeongWon wasn’t there.

“Of course, he isn’t here……”

“Yeah, since we left him behind.”

This space was one layer deeper than where we had left GyeongWon. Although it was the same location, it was obvious he wasn’t going to be there.

“Haaa, let’s sit down for now.”

We went up to the second floor and chose a random empty table to sit at.

“Ummm, Joon……”

“Yeah?”

“You know……”

SunAh hesitated for a bit before continuing.

“Once all this ends… Let’s all come here together and eat a hamburger……”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ahaha! Yeah, let’s definitely do that! Here, promise.”

As I acted a bit silly and put out my pinky finger, SunAh also began to giggle.

Now that I thought about it, it could be said that it was already my third time there with the club members. However, I had never been to that fast food joint with the club members in reality.

“Promise! We must do it!”

“Yeah. Promise!”

Suddenly, my mood became very joyful. Yeah, a debriefing of sorts. We needed something like that for club activities, right?

“It’s quite interesting.”

“What is?”

“The fact that in a situation like this, I have a friend I can laugh together with.”

“……”

SunAh’s cheeks blushed red. The late morning sun bled through the window. We could see an ambulance rushing by on the street in the direction of the school. Someone must have called them.

“I lived a normal life once.”

“……”

“There wasn’t much that I really liked.”

“……”

“It’s an excessive thing. The fact that I’m continuously being given chances.”

“Joon……”

I wonder, did she understand the meaning of those words?

All SunAh could do was quietly mumble my name. I stretched out my hands over the table to her.

“……”

SunAh just stared at my hand. Then, after hesitating a bit, she did the same with her hands. She held onto mine.

“Let’s go back to reality. Together.”

“……”

SunAh’s soft hands flinched slightly. Now, SunAh had to make me go to sleep. I firmly gripped her hand and then patted it with my other hand.

“Please take good care of me, SunAh.”

Although she was shaking initially, she reaffirmed her mind and then nodded.

“Yeah!”