Chapter 41: The Perfect Solution

The teacher’s ability was quite impressive, at least visually.

Countless blades unfolded from somewhere, two landing in the teacher’s hands, the rest flying towards me.

They somehow avoided the students, and what used to be students.

But that was all.

If something pierced me, I could pull it out.

If something was severed, I could reattach it.

I couldn’t put the spilled blood back in, but I could control it.

“Hey, I have a question.”

“You can stall all you want, but your allies won’t come. We’ve tightened security since the last attack.”

“Why was only the C-rank boy put in a black plastic bag?”

The teacher didn’t answer.

He just silently aimed his swords at me and charged.

I casually aimed my gun and pulled the trigger.

He somehow twisted his body mid-air and dodged it.

Figuring the gun wasn’t going to work, I gathered a large amount of blood, solidified it, and tried to use it like a sword.

But since I’d never learned swordsmanship, I was just pushed back by the teacher.

Giving up on this boring tactic, I decided to fight as I usually did.

As two swords and a spear flew towards me, I grabbed the girl lying on the floor and used her as a meat shield.

He could throw the weapons, but apparently not call them back.

The screaming girl soon fell silent.

Thanks to that, he hesitated to approach me.

If everyone just talked and compromised, there wouldn’t be any fighting!

Actually, this was the result of careful consideration and discussions with various people.

Getting beaten up is also a form of conversation.

A physical conversation.

It sounds a bit lewd, but when someone hits me, I react by getting hurt. It’s an interaction.

“Even if you don’t like me, killing your own student is a bit much, don’t you think? Especially as their homeroom teacher.Well, I guess it’s to be expected since you ignored the new student being bullied instead of helping.”

The veins in his temples bulged, angered by my words.

“They all died because of you. If you had just helped me adjust, helped me avoid being ostracized, things wouldn’t have come to this. What am I going to do? Sigh.”

Still…

If he wanted to catch me, he shouldn’t have come in here.

Or he should have waited for me to leave the classroom.

The scattered corpses, chunks of meat, and blood on the floor all rose into the air and flew towards the teacher.

“This!”

Even if countless spears, swords, and even axes came flying, it didn’t matter if a corpse that was already in pieces got a few more cuts.

And it’s not like you can cut blood.

He couldn’t bring himself to cut down his own students who were screaming for their lives, even though they were being controlled by my blood seeping into their ears.

Watching the teacher explode along with the students… it wasn’t exhilarating, but rather depressing.

What kind of messed up mind do you need to have to laugh at something like this?

The weapons floating in the air clattered to the floor as soon as the teacher’s head fell off.

There seemed to be no one alive in the classroom now.

Just in case, I transformed the overflowing blood into sharp thorns and shot them at the chunks of meat.

So many kids my age died.

By my hand.

I thought killing them would solve everything, but it doesn’t feel like the problem is solved.

Should I just wait for Seo-jun to come and offer her my neck?

No, that’s a bit of a waste. Not dramatic enough.

I guess escaping the school is the right thing to do.

I rummaged through my bag, put on the rabbit mask, and left the classroom.

I wasn’t lonely.

My classmates, or what remained of them, followed me, along with the rippling blood that stained the floor red.

One classroom, one floor.

It seems quite luxurious from B-rank and above.

You can move to a different space for ability practice during class, try out different equipment, it was quite fascinating.

I put the gun back in the large bag and used the sharpened blood to tear off the ragged edges of my shoulder.

Then, using my good hand to support myself against the wall, I limped down the stairs.

Everyone must have come out because of the noise.

I saw students who should have been in class and some teachers I didn’t recognize.

At first, they all stared at me, covered in blood in my uniform.

I pleaded desperately.

“H, help me… Please……”

The teacher rushed towards me with an urgent expression and helped me up.

“What happened? Or was there an explosion… !?”

His voice was full of urgency.

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

He froze as my blood seeped into his nose and ears. He scratched at his face in confusion, then started convulsing, making choking sounds.

I must have hit a bad spot in his brain.

He stumbled towards the students and exploded.

Thorns and chunks of flesh from the exploding teacher flew towards the students, making them explode too. The other students screamed and ran.

I repeated the same thing on three more floors.

The students on the other two floors had already evacuated, and three teachers were gathered together.

They didn’t even fall for my act.

As soon as I came down pretending to be injured, an arrow flew and pierced my forehead.

When I pulled it out, my mind went blank for a minute.

When I opened my eyes, they were all dead.

Anyway, after blowing them all up, I walked out of the building, and the sirens started wailing.

I took out the gun again, using the sirens as background music.

It felt like I was walking with Si-hyun “unni” again.

A familiar feeling.

Probably because it was my second time.

I stretched and idly stroked the mask on my face.

She said she died after getting her revenge.

Why couldn’t she just… stay with me?

Or at least ask me.

I wouldn’t have felt so resentful if we had gone together.

Even if we weren’t that close, still…

I wasn’t lonely when she was around.

I felt quite sad realizing that Si-hyun “unni” was the only person I could rely on in this place.

Because she wasn’t in this world anymore.

“Gasp… y-you, you did this to… me…”

I turned towards the voice and saw the girl I told to leave.

She must have run all the way here.

After hearing the sirens or the gunshots.

Unsure of what to say, I aimed the gun at her and tilted my head.

But instead of running away, she created something that floated and moved in the air.

Probably magic or something.

But I had a magic wand in my hand too.

I casually swatted away the incoming gust of wind with blood and aimed at her knees before pulling the trigger.

Her legs bent in an unnatural direction, and she collapsed.

Perhaps because of the pain, whatever was floating in the air disappeared, and she started screaming and writhing in agony.

“……Well, I did spare your life, so…”

I left the building, finished off another dumbfounded student, and then, out of pity, pulled the trigger on the groaning, pain-filled student.

The gun only clicked.

I checked for any remaining bullets, but there were none. I put the gun back in the large bag and slung it over my shoulder.

I would be sad if I lost it.

It felt like countless people were running towards me.

As I approached the boy clutching his stomach in pain, he yelled at me.

“S-save me! Please! I have a little sister at home!”

“Okay.”

So what if he has a sister? It doesn’t matter.

I could see the main gate now.

Not many people guarding it.

Since it was uncomfortable to limp around with my half-severed calf, I reattached the severed flesh and shaped it into something like a vehicle.

It was surprisingly comfortable. Maybe because I didn’t have to walk.

It looked quite menacing, and I could clearly see the guards at the gate trembling.

I wanted to give them a tour of the research facility’s basement.

They do a lot more varied and boring things than this.

I didn’t really enjoy school life anyway.

It was similar to life in the lab and not very fun.

I thought everything would be solved if I just saw Seo-jun, but that wasn’t the case either.

It felt like I just created more problems.

But I found a solution.

This kind of solution isn’t right.

I almost killed that boy with a sister just now.

What if he was the only one taking care of his sister?

I can solve that with the words I always heard! When I was looking down at my own beating heart, ripped from my chest, everyone said that all problems would be solved if I just sacrificed myself.

But I don’t want to sacrifice myself.

It was miserable enough being abandoned by my only friend after living with horrible people in that village. It was enough to make me want to die when she told me not to cling to her when I finally found her.

Why should I be the one to sacrifice more?

I know that expressing myself like this makes everything meaningless.

I know that taking my anger out on others, killing them without logic or reason, is unacceptable.

So, it’s not a problem.

My life has always been like this.

There’s nothing else that comes to mind except that it’s all meaningless.

If they hadn’t opened my skull and electrocuted me, none of this would have happened.

I assure you, this is the perfect solution I can come up with.

The world has always forced this on me.

This must be the right answer.