Chapter 23: When Was the Right Time to Move?

I locked eyes with the teacher.

Her right arm was stained red, perhaps from the strain of cutting down the falling debris.

She saw me and ran quickly towards me.

I subtly tended to her wound, just enough so she wouldn’t notice.

Since she seemed too agitated to properly grasp what had happened to her body anyway, I wasn’t caught.

“Are you unharmed?”

I nodded.

“A battle might break out soon, so either get as far away from here as possible or return to the dorms.”

“There’s probably a barrier up by now.”

The teacher said this, then gripped her sword and kicked off the ground towards where the dust was rising.

The sound of someone crying while clutching their dead friend.

A child screaming in agony, one leg crushed by debris.

An idiot performing CPR on someone whose side was gouged out and was clearly dying.

“Hmm-hmm-hmm♬ Hmm-hmm-hmm♬”

I smoked the cigarette down to the filter, then casually dropped the butt on the floor and crushed it with my foot.

Then, humming a tune I used to listen to often long ago, I observed the surrounding scenery for a while.

Around the time the dust had settled somewhat, and the crying child’s voice had become hoarse and quieter, people wearing masks that clearly screamed “I am the attacker” began to appear.

There were more of them than expected.

They looked like over thirty people; where on earth did they come from?

They were taking something from the fallen people.

Frowning and looking closer, I saw they were cutting open chests and taking out hearts.

It seemed the only people who died from the building collapse were those hit by nearby fragments.

Because kids in school uniforms were lying collapsed, bound by translucent threads.

Perhaps due to the sheer size of the building, there looked to be over several hundred of them.

One of them had a rather familiar face.

The boy who had sat next to me, trembling for a long time, before grabbing a blunt sword and running off.

Seeing his body intact except for his right head being slightly crushed, he clearly couldn’t have been of any help.

‘Since he ran off on his own, it was his choice, but it feels like I helped him die just a little.’

‘Should I have gotten up and followed him after all?’

‘If my powers were revealed, I could just brush it off, saying I suddenly awakened them in a life-threatening situation.’

‘No.’

‘This isn’t my business.’

‘It’s nothing to feel guilty about either.’

‘I just told him to keep the promise he made right next to me.’

‘He could have been a little cowardly towards himself; it would have been fine to live as a coward.’

‘He just chose to run out.’

I wasn’t particularly sad.

He was just a classmate I had exchanged a few words with.

‘Though I knew he stopped kids from bothering me in class or spreading weird rumors after those idiot friends disappeared.’

‘It’s not like I asked him to.’

‘Still, should I have stopped him?’

‘Or should I not have encouraged him?’

‘But even if I had stopped him, it probably wouldn’t have been okay.’

‘He seemed like the type of person who would dwell for a very long time on the fact that he should have run out then.’

‘Or am I just rationalizing?’

‘What thought crossed my mind back then that made me just sit back down?’

‘I don’t remember.’

‘Just that my heart felt like it had instantly gone cold, and I didn’t want to do anything.’

As I got closer, I saw the teacher who had kicked off the ground earlier fighting an attacker.

Her whole body was covered in wounds, but rather than fighting, it seemed they were toying with her, as only small cuts littered the surface of her skin.

The opponent was playfully stabbing the teacher with a small dagger.

‘When it’s time to move, you shouldn’t stay still.’

The boy’s words came to mind.

‘And is now the time to move?’

“Hey, f***! While I’m working my f***ing ass off, if you’re just messing around like that, when are we gonna escape!?”

Only when his comrade screamed did the attacker finally plunge the blade into her neck.

Then, grumbling, he grabbed the teacher’s head, dragged her away, and tossed her to his comrades who were dismantling the fallen bodies.

I intended to turn back right there.

However, the teacher was still alive, despite the blade embedded in her neck.

However, the boy was breathing, his head only slightly crushed.

My feet move forward without me realizing it.

Even though I know that confronting people like this in a place like this means the only possible outcome is a fight.

‘Is there anything I can do?’

‘They must be incredibly strong if they dared to invade the academy, a place openly packed with talented individuals.’

‘The research facility, these guys – they don’t seem that different.’

‘In a way, isn’t this just an extension of a hobby?’

‘I shouldn’t be taking steps forward like an idiot.’

Just then, I saw a small piece of glass on the ground, likely fallen from a window.

I picked it up, slashed from the back of my hand up to my shoulder, and slowly started walking forward.

‘This kind of thing isn’t my job in the first place.’

‘It’s the job of the person who will defeat villains and save the world.’

Without making a sound, hands behind my back, I approached the person dismantling the teacher, who was clutching the blade in her neck and trembling all over.

He was chuckling, mocking the dying teacher.

Right up until the moment he tried to slice open her chest.

Perhaps because of that, he didn’t seem to realize how he died.

His entire body was pierced by blood, then split apart and died.

‘Normally, shouldn’t the protagonist step up in times like these, not a frail girl like me?’

‘Or maybe they went off somewhere to catch a villain, and the villains took advantage of that gap to attack?’

‘How would I know.’

‘I don’t want to know either.’

The teacher’s eyes widened incredibly.

Though her pupils clouded over shortly after.

After pulling out the sword embedded in the teacher’s neck and closing her eyes, I stood under the red rain sprinkling down from the sky and looked around at the villains who had turned their heads towards me.

They were all wearing white masks.

Some of them were still continuing their work, while others drew long swords or unknown weapons from their waists and charged at me.

However, whether I solidified blood and shot it, fired thorns, or formed it into a sword and swung it wide, it was all useless.

‘Maybe Lee So-hyun really was just a figurehead, like I said.’

‘Or maybe it’s because there are multiple opponents.’

Countless blades embedded themselves everywhere except my chest.

Despite that, I stepped forward, grabbed a mask, and poured blood into the wearer’s ear.

The person who stabbed their sword into my stomach looked utterly bewildered despite the mask, then collapsed, bleeding profusely from their entire body as they died.

‘The regrettable part is, I guess this was all I could do.’

‘Because my arms and legs were torn off simultaneously.’

‘When is the time to move?’

‘Was just now the time I should have moved?’

‘She looked like she would die even if left alone.’

‘It felt like a scene meant only to create a spectacle for the protagonist to witness and fuel their malice towards villains.’

‘It didn’t seem like a story someone like me should interfere in.’

‘Judging by the punishment I’m receiving now.’

“Seems like a regeneration type.”

“Just burn her properly with fire and stuff her in a bag.”

“Those eccentric bastards will probably like her as a test subject.”

“Ughk!”

Being accustomed to pain doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

And, being burned seemed to be an incredibly agonizing experience.

Because while my consciousness briefly faded, someone grabbed my hair and was dragging me away.

So I saw it very clearly.

Numerous scenes.

A villain opening the chest of their just-deceased comrade to take out the heart.

The teacher, perhaps intending to help me, pulling out the dagger stuck in her neck, blocking the wound with one hand, fighting villains with the other, before being overpowered and dismantled.

The boy with a slightly crushed head and a blank expression.

My own arms and legs, slowly regenerating amidst the burnt flesh.

And standing far off in the distance, the protagonist looking quite out of breath, along with other nameless, pretty-faced humans.

Seo-jun’s face contorts, and she shows that radiant appearance, just like when she left my side long ago.

And the masked man watching her embedded a blade in my chest, casually tossed me onto the ground, and started running away somewhere.

Shortly after, I heard the fleeing man’s death cry, followed by the sound of urgent footsteps.

Then, she looked at me and started saying something.

Perhaps because my ears were ringing, or maybe just due to the headache, I couldn’t hear clearly.

“You should have come a little sooner.”

“Even if you left me behind.”

Blood trickled steadily from my mouth.

My chin felt warm, so it must be true.

Disliking her incredibly clean face, I let the blood welling up in my mouth gather, then spat it right in her face.

Unlike last time, no fist flew towards me.

Her eyes meeting mine are incredibly red.

‘As expected, I hate this kind of thing.’

‘What’s the point of showing up after everything is over?’

—————————

Wherever I went, the ceilings were plaster with a sea wave pattern, so it didn’t feel particularly unfamiliar.

Luckily for me, perhaps because the protagonist picked me up, I woke up in the infirmary.

Apparently, others were being treated on beds set up in the auditorium.

Honestly, the whole world feels incredibly unfamiliar.

I feel like if I open my eyes again, I’ll be stuck back in that lab.

A great many students died.

According to the news, it’s not a problem at all.

At most, three C-ranks died, and the rest were just riff-raff.

Come to think of it, something like this should have prompted a call from Si-hyun , but there were no recent calls on my phone.

Figuring she must be busy with something, I just stared at the ceiling and sighed.

‘When was the time I should have moved?’

‘Still, she saved me this time, so maybe it’s okay not to worry too much?’

‘Maybe I should just, you know, tell her who I am, have a touching reunion, and then slowly die?’

Only after the thought of being dragged back to the lab by my hair crossed my mind did I realize.

That even if I clung to life in this world, I probably wouldn’t be happy.

And, just because I’m not happy, I don’t think I want to ruin others’ happiness either.

She just didn’t recognize me, and I got beaten up after being sarcastic; it’s not a big deal.

They’re all good kids.

They’re all good people.

‘I’m the only problem.’

‘Because I’m not a person, I’m Number Eleven.’