Clutching my stomach, which was begging for food, I wondered where I should go to solve this problem. Then, I remembered that this was a dream.
'Oh, right. This is a dream. Can't I just imagine it and it'll appear…?'
"Hmm…. Alright."
'Hamburger, chicken, pizza, pig's trotters, sandwich, ramen….'
I mentally listed off foods, hoping one would materialize. But nothing appeared before my eyes; I just kept thinking.
'Is this not how it works…?'
As I was pondering this, I recalled something I'd heard before.
It was said that if you create a specific situation in a dream, you can pull out anything you want from anywhere.
For example,
If you think there's an apple in a bag, and then you imagine the process of putting your hand in the bag and taking out the apple.
Ta-da! An apple appears.
Should I call it a process of making the brain understand, or adding a simple bit of plausibility….
To practice this, should I use the pocket of my uniform jacket…? No. That's no fun.
This is my dream, after all. In that case, there was only one thing for me to do.
Scraaaape—.
I picked up a nearby stone and scraped a circle on the ground.
"Hap—!"
I shouted with a powerful yell, clapped my hands together, and then slammed my hand down inside the circle I had just drawn.
Smack—!
The sound of my hand hitting the ground was loud.
The result… the transmutation must have failed, as there was no food.
There was only the loud noise that drew the attention of passersby who were now murmuring and looking at me with pity, and my own reddened face and palm….
"A-Ahem."
-Oh my, he coughed….
-Looks like he knows how embarrassing it is….
'Let's get up quickly….'
After that, I just gave up and went into a nearby convenience store to look at the food.
As expected, the prices were in yen, and I had no wallet, so I was in a bit of a pickle.
'Should I just steal it…?'
This is a dream, anyway. Nothing bad will happen if I steal, and it doesn't matter. After coming to this conclusion, I looked at the employee at the counter….
"…Hmm."
Isn't there a saying that one should do good deeds even when no one is watching?
A person must maintain their dignity anytime, anywhere.
"...."
…It's definitely not because a large robot citizen is guarding the place….
"Haah…."
Having given up on stealing, I turned on my phone to find the Kakao Pay app, since that's what I usually use.
And a slight sense of anticipation welled up in me.
Since this is my dream, maybe there's something there. There's a saying that you have nothing to lose by trying.
'Alright, let's see…. Huh?'
However, when I actually looked at the app… as if it were the next best thing, something called Momotalk Pay existed.
'I mean, Momotalk is one thing, but Momotalk Pay….'
The fact that something like this was implemented made me let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
I opened Momotalk Pay to check if there was any money.
The amount was 7,540 yen.
Seeing that, I was both relieved and amazed that I had money in yen.
Roughly calculating it into Korean won, that's 75,400 won.
This was originally the amount of money I had in my Kakao Pay. Even the account number was the same as the one I use.
A tiny… tiny shiver ran down my spine, but before my stomach started growling again, I decided to fill it up first.
I chose one protein bar, two sandwiches, one cup of ramen, and one Pocari Sweat, which cost a total of 710 yen.
I ate everything except for one sandwich and about half of the Pocari, soothing my hunger.
Because of the cup ramen, I had no choice but to eat at the convenience store, so I disposed of the trash there.
I put the remaining sandwich in the inner pocket of my uniform jacket.
With the Pocari in hand, I left the convenience store.
"…What now?"
Literally.
What should I do now…?
Now that the world of my dream was laid out before me, what I should do next… felt like trying to decide what to order for delivery.
I thought about it for a bit….
Because of the KakaoTalk app that had changed earlier, I turned on my phone to see if anything else was different.
The battery was at 89%, and the current time was 2:56 PM. I realized that quite a lot of time had passed.
"…. ? Wait, what??"
When I looked through my apps… it was quite shocking.
KakaoTalk….
No. Momotalk looked as if it had been hacked; the friends list showed 0, and not a single person could be found.
In my phone's contacts, too, the numbers that should have been saved were gone.
And… the most shocking thing was that Blue Archive… was gone. I rubbed my eyes and looked, but I couldn't find it.
"Ah......."
I was devastated for a moment, but I decided to let it go, thinking that everything would be back to normal when I woke up from the dream.
I looked for more apps.
Baedal Minjok had become Baedal Myojok (Delivery Meowple), with a cat beastman on a scooter as its mascot, and YouTube had been changed to Nertube.
Besides these, other familiar apps appeared with only their names changed, and I could even find game apps like that the original Sensei plays.
It was truly an incredible recreation of the source material. It made me wonder if I had known this much detail.
Crack–!
"Hngggh–! Haah…."
I put my phone away and stretched my arms up high with a satisfying crack of my bones.
For now, I'm thinking of enjoying it as if I'm on a trip.
Because I don't know when this dream will end….
And so, as if I were backpacking, I walked around without any plan, looking at my surroundings.
In the sky, I could see the large ring of light that symbolizes Blue Archive. I saw a lot of students, but there were a particularly large number of delinquents and Helmet Gang members.
'Come to think of it, which district am I in…?'
A sudden curiosity arose.
In Blue Archive, there are institutions called academies in each district.
These academies not only serve the role of the schools we know, but in Kivotos, they are also synonymous with the concept of a nation.
In other words, Student Council President = President.
It's a crazy world where even though they're at most 17 or 18 years old, they're involved in politics, and high school girls shoot guns and wage war, where getting shot only elicits a comment about it stinging.
I turned on the map app on my phone and was able to check my location.
Black Market.
On the surface, it's just an ordinary shopping district, but in the back, all sorts of crimes run rampant, from selling prohibited items like biochemical bombs to hoarding and illegal distribution. It's the largest lawless zone in Kivotos.
Well… but there is a security organization called the Market Guard, so fights don't break out that often.
'Ah- so that's why I haven't heard any gunshots—'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"You shot first…!"
"ㅗ"
'The moment I thought it…!'
Couldn't you at least give a warning before starting, you crazy…!
Bang! Bang! Ba….
I briefly wondered if gunshots were always this loud, but I followed my instincts, gripped the Pocari bottle tightly in my hand, and started running frantically in the opposite direction of the fight.
I wasn't athletic, but I was confident in my running, at least.
I had even been selected as a member of the relay team for a sports day in middle school and had played a key role in getting first place.
"Hah—ah hah—ah hah–ah… now...."
I sprinted, looking only ahead, and when I could no longer hear the gunshots, I stopped running.
And collapsed right there on the ground.
"Hoo… haah…."
My lungs burned. My body was sweaty, and my legs felt incredibly heavy, probably from the sudden sprint.
Gulp- gulp-
"Khaah…!"
I was thirsty, so I opened the Pocari I was holding and chugged the rest of it to quench my thirst.
I was suddenly reminded of my nickname. Cheetah. Once I start running, I'm incredibly fast, but afterward, I'm dead tired.
Doesn't that fit the current situation perfectly….
"Ugh- cha…"
With a weak voice, I got up to start walking again….
"Where the heck am I now…?"
It's absurd, another unfamiliar street. I'm not going to live a long life at this rate….
____________________________
I was dumbfounded by the different scenery, and as the sky gradually grew darker,
I checked the time on my phone.
7:52 PM.
It was a bit of a late dinner, but remembering my mom's usual words to at least eat something simple, I took out the sandwich I had put in the inner pocket of my uniform jacket.
Maybe because I had been running around frantically.
It was pretty crumpled, but… it's all the same once it's in your stomach.
I had a bittersweet thought, wondering if 'someone' would come chasing me with a detonator if they heard me say that, as I finished eating the sandwich.
After I finished eating, I looked around.
"So where is this place…."
Maybe it was a rather secluded area, or maybe everyone had gone to bed because it was night.
There were no people in sight, and the lights in the few buildings there were all off.
Around the buildings, there was sand….
'Huh, sand?'
"—! Abydos…."
I could say this with certainty.
A school with sand piled up on its buildings? It could only be Abydos.
Abydos.
An academy with an Egyptian motif, once praised as the strongest school that enjoyed a glorious golden age….
Now, it is a tragic school that has fallen into ruin, as everyone left due to the desertification of the area.
'If that's the case….'
I slowly made my way into one of the buildings.
The place I entered was a shabby, single-story building.
"Hello~ Is anyone there~"
…Swoosh~.
'As I thought…!'
The only reply that came back to my call was the sound of the wind.
After confirming that no one was there, I began to explore the area.
The inside was bigger than I thought. Maybe it used to be a supermarket, as there were abandoned display shelves covered in dust.
I went further inside and saw a door, which I pushed open with my hand.
Creeak….
"Oh…."
Fortunately, the door wasn't locked, so I could open it easily. In there… I found an old, small mat.
I had originally come in to avoid sleeping on the street, and here was an unexpected windfall.
It was covered in a lot of dust, but compared to the hard, cold floor, I was more than grateful.
After dusting off only the top part where I would put my head, I lay down on the mat.
"Cough, cough…."
Maybe because I had just shaken it out, the dust flew up and made me cough.
"Haah...."
'This must be the end… if I close my eyes here, I'll be back in my room as if by promise….'
It's a shame I couldn't meet any playable characters….
'Still….'
"This isn't half bad."
Feeling an inexplicable sense of satisfaction, I fell asleep.