Chapter 133
Blackout (2)
IAM then snorted coldly. "No... There must be..." He shook his head and whispered, more to himself than to them, "I just need to try harder..."
He leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table, he stared ahead, his vision glazed, as if looking past the world itself.
Silence followed, thick and awkward, stretching between the group like a fog that no one wanted to walk through.
Reuel finally broke it, his voice low but steady. "We... We all know there's something wrong with this world. That there are secrets... things that are hidden from us. Things buried within time. But what can we do? It's in the past. It... it has nothing to do with us. All we can really do is live with what we have."
The others didn't speak, but when IAM turned to look at Yohan and Henry, he could see it written clearly in their eyes—they agreed. Even if their lips didn't move, their silence said everything.
IAM let out a soft laugh that lacked any humor. "Fine. You're right," he said flatly. "We should just forget it, huh? What does it even matter to us..."
The tension in the air slowly melted, not completely, but enough that it was no longer suffocating. The conversation drifted toward something lighter, mundane even.
But IAM remained still.
Because inside, something had clicked.
These people they had been born into this world. Everything that struck IAM as strange, terrifying, or off... to them, it was all just normal. Natural. It was the fabric of their everyday lives. The questions that gnawed at IAM had never even occurred to them. The contradictions didn't stand out because they had never known anything else. They couldn't see the cracks because they'd never seen a world without them.
And IAM couldn't blame them for it. How could he?
If he had been born here, into this society, behind these walls, under these rules—he probably would've been the same. He would've accepted it all without question. He would've walked the same path...Lived the same ignorance.
It wasn't their fault. It was just the nature of their world.
Still, IAM couldn't help but think: If only they could see from my perspective...
If only they could see what IAM saw, what he remembered, what he knew—they would understand how strange this world truly was.
They would question why the race system even existed—because, compared to Earth, it didn't make any sense. Why label people with names of these ancient heroes that couldn't possibly account for the many ethnicities?
They would see how the race system made no sense—not from a biological, social, or historical standpoint.
They would question the fifteen-thousand-foot walls that caged in the entire country like it was a fortress under siege from ghosts. Walls so impossibly high they sliced through clouds and made IAM feel like the sky itself had been chopped into pieces.
They would question the bizarre creatures that lurked outside the walls—things with no known evolution or reason. They were too terrifying to be considered natural.
They would notice.
But they didn't. They couldn't. Because to them, their world had always been like this.
IAM toyed with the thought, the dangerous idea blooming like a weed in his mind: What if I told them? What if he opened his mouth and let the truth spill out—that he wasn't from this world at all? That he was from another planet, another life, another reality entirely?
Maybe then... maybe then they'd understand. Maybe they'd see.
But no. The thought curled up and died just as quickly as it came.
IAM barely knew them. Not really. Not deep enough to trust them with something like that.
It was too soon. They were classmates, dormmates… maybe even friends. But not yet trustworthy.
He didn't know what would happen if he shared the truth, Would they believe him? Would they laugh? Report him? Fear him?
He didn't want to find out.
He didn't want to regret that kind of decision.
So, he said nothing.
IAM looked back to the pile of books he had stacked earlier. He had picked them out not because they might offer some sliver of perspective. Some accidental detail missed by others.
He grabbed a book, a thick one, heavy in his hands. As he pulled it out, something slid slightly—just enough to catch his eye. A bookmark.
That wasn't unusual. Lots of books had bookmarks in them, especially in a place like this. Students came and went. People picked up books and left them halfway through all the time. No one had the time to obsessively finish everything they started, and no one was going to steal a random bookmark unless they were either deeply disturbed or had the maturity of a seven-year-old.
But this one... this one was different.
IAM's eyes locked onto it. Not because of its color or design, but because of what was printed on it.
A name.
A name he knew.
His hand trembled slightly as he pulled the book closer. The cover was worn but still legible.
The title read: Extinction
By Morel
He stared at it, heart beginning to race.
The book wasn't about Hope. It was about a different country entirely—It was about where most of the descendants of the Dwarf had lived.
Until they all mysteriously vanished.
IAM's fingers tightened around the spine.
The others were still talking, but it was distant now, muffled like voices underwater.
Yohan must have noticed his expression, because he leaned closer. "What is it?"
But IAM didn't respond.
He couldn't.
Because he had just pulled the bookmark free and read the name written on it:
RAJ.
He hadn't thought about RAJ in a long time.
He blinked, as if trying to confirm what he saw. But the name didn't disappear.
IAM stared down at the name, the room slowly returning to sound and movement. The others were still around him, unaware of what was going through his mind.
His grip on the bookmark tightened.