"Hey! Don't make a sound when you walk! Stupid criminal's kid!"
His steps came to a halt for a moment after hearing those words, but he simply sighed afterward.
Shaden already knew that the clear sky he saw the moment he stepped outside was a bad sign for him.
For his unfortunate life, the sunlight above seemed to laugh at him instead.
And the event that the sun found worthy of laughing at took place inside the noisy classroom, which suddenly fell silent the moment Shaden stepped in. Shaden stayed alert. Though he walked straight ahead, he sharpened all five of his senses to locate the source of danger.
But even with all that, misfortune was something absolute.
SPLASH
Shaden froze as a bucket of water drenched the only uniform he had on this bright Monday morning. It was followed by a chorus of laughter from everyone there, some even shouting "Got him!" loudly—mocking the success of punishing the son of a criminal.
"I told you, he's stupid! No matter how many times we prank him, he still can't dodge it!" one of them said.
Shaden remained silent. He simply dropped one strap of his bag and looked at the books he was carrying. Thankfully, they weren't wet.
"Look at that! Instead of worrying about himself being soaked, the idiot's worried about his old book. I told you, that old book carries a curse. A curse that makes his entire life miserable."
Even louder laughter followed.
Shaden didn't care. As long as that old book was safe, that was enough for him. The book he had kept since he was a child— a fairy tale book written by his own father. Though its content was unlike any typical fairy tale.
But just as he was about to put the book back, someone suddenly snatched his bag, startling him.
"No! Give it back!"
Someone cried out joyfully, "Wow! He reacted the moment his bag was taken. How about we tear up his precious book too?"
Shaden shook his head frantically. Rust, his classmate who acted as the ringleader of the others, spun Shaden's bag in the air to the cheers of the rest.
"No! Please! Do whatever you want to me, but give my bag back!" Shaden pleaded, knowing fighting back was pointless when facing the entire class.
But he was wrong. The more he begged, the more fired up Rust and his friends became in tormenting him. The bag was tossed around, back and forth, as Shaden tried to retrieve it. When he moved, running to catch his bag, someone extended a foot and made Shaden fall flat. His forehead struck the edge of a desk, causing it to bleed, but no one felt pity or guilt. Their laughter only grew louder.
"So pathetic! You should've gone to prison with your father! That way, no one would treat you like this. Because in prison, everyone's an idiot who can't control their minds!"
The sting on his head made Shaden dizzy, but he still had to get that book back. Just the book.
"Let's see what's inside this disgusting book."
Shaden's eyes widened. He couldn't let them read it aloud in front of everyone. He didn't want his father's only work to be ridiculed.
"Please! Don't do it!" Shaden crawled, reaching his hand toward Rust who was now sitting on a desk.
Meanwhile, Rust was already opening the first page.
" 'One day, the peaceful world suddenly turned into chaos. Characters from fairy tales who were supposed to be funny, suddenly appeared in terrifying forms. One of them was a pigeon with a black beak, while the rest of its body remained white. The beak was jagged, as if it could rip through anything in the world.' "
Rust burst out laughing. "What is this?! What kind of moron wrote a book like this?" he asked no one in particular.
Everyone else laughed along, joining in what Rust was doing.
Only Shaden remained silent, eyes closed for a moment from exhaustion. It was a weird and senseless story, but Shaden had read it more than ten times—every time he missed his father.
"Hey!"
"Argh!" Shaden screamed. Rust suddenly stomped on his hand with a shoe, making it feel like his fingers were crushed.
"Is your father not only a criminal but also insane?! How can a sane person write a story like this?"
Lifting his head, Shaden's eyes glared sharply. "Give me back my book!"
But what he received was another blow, making his head spin. He was nearly unconscious.
"You really—"
"Huh? What's going on? Why did the sky suddenly go dark?"
Murmurs erupted, forcing Shaden to open his eyes. He managed to sit up just as Rust turned his attention to the clear sky that had suddenly turned gloomy.
"Is it going to rain? Damn! I didn't bring an umbrella today."
"Feels like there'll be lightning too. I have a bad feeling, like a ghost is going to come out of the dark sky."
Just like the others, Shaden also felt a chill when staring up at the sky. Then suddenly, he jolted and fell off his chair, along with the screams of his classmates.
A bird had entered by smashing through the window and landed in the center of the room.
Shaden blinked. He felt like he had seen that strange bird somewhere before. Then something happened that shocked them all, along with an announcement from the speaker system, urging everyone to stay in place.
"W-what is that? Doesn't that bird look weird?" Rust's voice could be heard amid the crying of the girls in class.
It was true. Shaden had never seen a pigeon with a beak like that.
Wait a minute. A beak?
Shaden stared carefully at the bird before him. It was exactly like the one described in his father's fairy tale book. Remembering this, Shaden quietly reached for the book while Rust was distracted.
[Mission: Save the world! For all the cute and adorable humans, find a way to survive until the given time ends. You only have five minutes, so try to avoid the attack of the cute little rats. Time starts now!]
Everyone screamed again as the terrifying bird began to speak.
"What? How? Is that magic? How can it talk?"
"Nonsense! Let's get out of this classroom and go home now!"
But before anyone could leave the classroom, screams echoed from outside. Everyone panicked. The sobs no longer came only from the girls.
Meanwhile, Shaden trembled in place. He had just witnessed something unthinkable. What was happening before his eyes was exactly what was written in the book—including the words spoken by the bird.
Then they were stunned again as hundreds, maybe thousands, of rats flooded into the classroom. Everyone screamed, trying to jump onto desks or grab anything to kill the rats. But their efforts were in vain— the more rats they killed, the more kept coming.
Trembling, Shaden opened the first page of his book. He read, because his memory had suddenly gone blank.
Unfortunately, as he read, one by one, his classmates were devoured by the rats. He even saw someone who had bullied him moments ago now lying in pieces.
"How… is this happening?" Shaden trembled more. Then his eyes caught a line at the end of the first chapter.
[The dwarves survived by jumping to avoid the swarm of rats and hiding in the brightest and most open place.]
"Could that really work?"
Without a second thought, Shaden followed the instructions, though doubtful of the outcome. Miraculously, the countless rats seemed unable to see him when he moved by hopping.
Exiting the classroom, he was met with a horrifying sight—blood everywhere. It seemed almost everyone in the school had perished. But now was not the time for Shaden to think about others. He still needed to find the brightest and most open place if he wanted to survive the remaining two minutes.
The rooftop was the only place that came to mind. So, risking everything, he hopped toward the rooftop stairs. Along the way, rats formed a terrifying ocean he had to cross, along with blood and screams from the lower floors.
Once he reached the rooftop, Shaden collapsed. He realized there were no rats up there, and the sky gradually returned to normal.
"What is happening? Am I dreaming?"
No matter how he thought about it, it made no sense. If the only way to complete the mission was written in the book, then wouldn't all humans die?
But then, a few others arrived at the same place. If counted, there were about twenty of them, and none of them were familiar to Shaden.
"Ah! Did I make it? Is it really over?"
They all cried and collapsed.
At the same time, a message floated in the air:
[Congratulations to all who survived the escape mission! For the next mission, please proceed to the Department of Education. The second mission will begin in one hour.]
And in that moment, Shaden knew that his life depended on the book he now held tightly in his arms.
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