I stared blankly at the stairs visible through the open door gap, then moved my steps. I passed through the fire door and stopped in the stairway passage leading upstairs, then pushed the open door closed again.
The giant padlock shape that had been floating through the air shrank back to its original size. Soon after, with a small click, the firmly locked padlock appeared floating above the fire door again.
‘…What conditions did Lee Geonwoo set for this?’
From the looks of it, he seemed to have closed the fire doors on each floor and put locks on them.
He must have considered various situations. Since they had their original purpose, the doors and windows in the main building had to be easily opened and closed by anyone. However, if I existed on that floor, the doors and windows on that floor had to be locked so they couldn’t be rashly opened or closed. On top of that, various emergency situations also had to be considered, so there were more than one or two things to worry about.
But it seemed Lee Geonwoo had accomplished all that perfectly in just one day. I didn’t know if he did it alone or received help from others, but applying his ability to all the doors and windows in the main building by himself would have been no easy task either.
‘Is his devotion as if it’s so natural something he resembles Lee Gojun in?’
I suppose it’s natural for brothers to resemble each other.
Having such unproductive thoughts, I passed through the fire door again and went straight up to the third floor without hesitation from the second floor.
‘Come to think of it, there seemed to be quite a few broken windows too.’
But it seemed they’d already finished all the repairs. Otherwise, the monsters outside would have already sensed my presence and gathered. In addition to the ability user who created the cloaks, was there also a survivor at Hanul High who had awakened an ability to repair windows or buildings?
Perhaps because most of the combat-type ability users had died due to the various past incidents—whether misfortune or fortune—non-combat, everyday awakening abilities that didn’t help with fighting or defense seemed particularly noticeable. Since the number of Hanul High survivors had also drastically decreased, their mutual bonds and reliance must have grown considerably.
‘Though they united with that bond to drive out me and the twins.’
It was already a thing of the past, and I’d received plenty of unnecessary apologies. Also, knowing that they’d been manipulated by the Student Council President’s ability, it was difficult to call them complete perpetrators.
Of course, that was just a personal impression, and I had no desire to care for and cheer on each Hanul High survivor one by one to build a wholesome society. Since the club faction had agreed to handle all such matters, I was determined not to get involved even a tiny bit.
I finally entered the third floor hallway. After confirming the fire door closed behind me, I took a small breath. Whether they’d obtained and sprayed deodorizer from somewhere, the blood scent and stench that hadn’t completely disappeared no matter how much we swept and wiped were much fainter.
I was moving my steps slowly when a survivor who had only stuck out their head from around the hallway corner flinched in surprise and trembled. Soon they hurriedly withdrew their gaze from me and fumbled about before entering a nearby classroom and hiding. Thanks to already being accustomed to survivors running away with all their might whenever they saw me, a scene that originally evoked no particular emotion became even more devoid of any emotion. And I still hadn’t realized that this was arrogance I harbored because I’d never properly met the common gaze of the survivors wearing white cloaks.
Instead, I turned direction and reached in front of a familiar classroom. A space that now felt almost like home—the art room. And beyond the door locked with a blue padlock, the sound of claws frantically scraping down wood.
Even with the blocked door and wall between us, the presence of the small monster acting as if it would rush at me immediately was too vivid. After briefly fiddling with the doorknob, I slowly opened the door.
As if it had been waiting for me, a small body—no, a body that had doubled in size overnight—leaped and threw itself into my arms. Unable to adapt to the considerably heavier monster, I staggered and barely managed to steady myself.
“…You.”
A monster with golden fur that looked exactly like a puppy from this world. But one that was no longer as tiny as the day before.
I gently narrowed my brows and examined the monster. I knew that monsters didn’t take very long to grow from infant to adult, but I hadn’t expected growth to happen this quickly.
I still hadn’t decided what to do with this monster—if I raised it, what method to use, and if I released it outside, where I should take it. In the midst of this, the monster’s steady yet excessive growth only burdened me.
‘…Did it eat a person in the meantime?’
If so, Ponytail would have told me about it already. And this infant would have long since lost its life and been discarded somewhere.
‘Can it suddenly swell up like this without eating anything?’
I was looking down at the monster unenthusiastically when it wagged its tail wildly. The way it seemed like it would jump around scattering its fur was no different from puppies I’d only encountered in media, but the problem was that I couldn’t be certain of anything beyond that.
The main diet of monsters was living creatures, especially humans. Seeing how the pigeons on the streets had completely dried up after monsters appeared, it seemed they ate any kind of meat, but if there was something considered the top priority prey for monsters, it was none other than humans.
This monster wagging its tail in my arms would also try to devour every human in sight once it became an adult. If the monster recklessly attacked while still an infant, I could handle it and then some, but if an adult monster attacked, anyone who wasn’t a considerably skilled person would have no choice but to be tense.
Moreover, the only monsters Hanul High survivors had ever faced were wolf-type monsters called Wolf, or occasionally giant cat-type or snake-type monsters wandering the streets. So it was natural to be anxious in various ways about this puppy—this monster that would be called a dog when it became an adult—that they’d never faced before.
“……”
There were too many problems to think about. If I continued wracking my brain like this, my brain might melt from overheating. So I needed sufficient rest time first.
I entered the art room and lightly pushed away the monster as if to put it down. It landed lightly on the floor and followed closely behind me.
I took out the note I’d received from the two survivors in front of the large mart and placed it on the desk, then picked up a pen and briefly jotted down questions I might forget. Soon I selected something appropriate from the pile of clothes stacked up and changed clothes.
Then I suddenly stared intently at one part of the art room. The box that had been full of paints and art supplies until I last left the art room yesterday was now completely empty.
Was there a survivor who had awakened an ability related to art? Or maybe they just had a hobby of drawing and took it to relieve stress during the brief breathing room they’d gotten.
‘…Hobby.’
I mulled over that word alone.
A world where hope for survival was slim, death was closer than life, and humans betraying each other to the point of committing murder had become a guilt-free daily occurrence. In such an era, healthy hobbies could be counted as an extremely important factor if one wanted to maintain some semblance of sanity.
Whether drawing pictures or reading books. Or writing or keeping a diary, just spending time conversing with companions—people would feel stability and warmth from such things.
‘So I should also…’
…Clack.
Only the sound of the window frame fitting together rang out, but the window didn’t open. It was natural. The blue padlock floating above the window still hadn’t disappeared and was captured in my vision, so how could I not know?
Yet without stopping, I rattled the window aimlessly. I didn’t know when I’d come from standing near the pile of clothes in the center of the art room to the window, and it wasn’t important either. I just wanted to at least try to get there.
Then….
“Messiah-nim.”
My mind snapped to attention as if cold water had been poured over my entire body. When I turned my head, Lee Geonwoo, whose face I seemed to be seeing for the first time in a while, was standing with the art room door half open.
“Messiah-nim, are you alright?”
“…Why do you insist on calling me by that title?”
“Why is it a problem to call Messiah-nim ‘Messiah-nim’…?”
I just stared at Lee Geonwoo with a face containing half disgust and half resignation. After making eye contact with me for a moment, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Representative-nim.”
The new title Lee Geonwoo brought out was shocking in its own way, so my mouth wouldn’t close. As I silently moved my lips, Lee Geonwoo offered me a choice as if he’d give me maximum consideration.
“Messiah-nim, Representative-nim. You must choose one of the two.”
“Representative… why would you call me that?”
“I heard you took on the position of Hanul High’s representative.”
It was true. That’s why I had even less to say.
I even felt like going to Ponytail right now and declaring that I’d become Hanul High’s leader, not representative. But whether ‘Representative-nim’ or ‘Leader-nim’ or any other title, it seemed it would give me goosebumps all the same. I thought at least it was somewhere that I wouldn’t be called the worst one, ‘Messiah-nim.’
“So, did you come all the way here because you have business?”
Lee Gojun nodded and opened the art room door wide, then stepped aside to clear a path for me.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
