"Who are you?" I asked reflexively.
It was a thought that had developed after reading so much manga.
Once a main character has interacted with the mysterious, the first question is usually one of asking for the identity of the unknown entity.
But honestly, I don't care.
Even if it turns out to be the cheat system or cheat item—
I don't want it.
I've learned my lesson adequately.
I am trash, and no cheat item can change that.
It's hilarious that people argue that a main character with a system cheat is useless without the system.
That's ridiculous.
Just look at me, for example.
I obviously have the cheat of going back in time—or looping, to be precise.
But instead of growing stronger or using it to my advantage, I died without even getting out of my classroom.
I died once I stepped into the hallway.
I died once I jumped out of the window.
I died when I sought help... no, correction—I was tossed aside once I sought help.
No one would want a baggage like me.
Plus, I couldn't keep up.
So I was left behind.
Now... now I'm sick of this.
I'm sick of it all.
I just want to rest peacefully.
So I don't want a system.
That would just mean I'd be forced to live a life of servitude.
No.
I want a peaceful ending away from the world and its misery.
Away from all suffering to come if I continue to live.
I don't want to strive to change my life.
Because in an apocalypse, how good do you really think life can be?
It's just fight for survival, day in and day out.
"Death, misery and destruction."
"I am the end that has come to reap the world."
"I am the end of it all."
"Then can you get me out?" I said, not caring about its title.
Who cares about the ominous sign or the madness in its tone?
So what if it destroys the world?
It's not like I'll be around to witness it.
I'll be free.
Freedom awaits me.
"Then do you accept?"
The voice was whispering and loud at the same time, with unrecognizable utterances.
But I could understand the meaning it wanted to convey.
"Yes."
I said this, and the voices became silent.
Then I became nervous again.
I had this whole conversation in my head while my brother spoke the same words as usual.
Then he left.
After a while, I decided to take my seat.
Though I didn't feel any different.
There was no mysterious feeling or warm current in my body.
Neither did I get a headache or nausea.
"System."
"Status."
I tried once more, just in case, but there was no response.
Should I try to kill myself
But would that interrupt the process?
I looked around the classroom, but there was nothing else that was different.
Then I heard it—
The student collapsed.
The same old story reoccurred.
And I was attacked.
By that ferocious zombie.
I felt my heartbeat slow down, and then I felt something different.
The pain was more than normal.
Originally, each death that occurred in each loop was painful.
Even the ones in which I committed suicide were still very painful.
But I was too deep into the fact that I was still alive to care.
And then, after repeatedly getting used to it, I became numb.
But now I felt the sensation of pain again.
That hot, scalding pain that set your body on fire.
It felt like I was being skinned alive, but in very thin layers.
The skin, organs, and bones were stripped in layers as thin as paper.
It was torturous, and I was forced to remember the pain I had neglected.
I screamed, and tears ran down my face.
Of course, there was no one else left in school to notice it.
No—to be precise, everyone else was busy battling the zombies.
Some were screaming, but everyone had a common goal: to leave the school.
So his screams were one in a hundred.
His voice was covered, and the zombie in the classroom had gone off to chase the escaping student.
I started to twitch violently on the ground and let my consciousness completely disappear.
Hopefully, this amount of pain means that I won't wake up in this wretched classroom again.
My eyes rolled back and my heart stopped beating.
This lasted five minutes.
Then the sound of a heartbeat could be heard.
The only student left in the classroom, whose corpse hadn't turned, started twitching.
Then his chest rose and fell.
Then his eyes, which were rolled back, began to spin around in a frenzy.
The veins in his eyeballs started to protrude in the whites of his eyes.
His eyes gradually turned bloodshot—then stopped their bizarre movement.
The student, covered in blood, and the wound on his shoulder squirmed.
The flesh around the wound turned into a liquid, like melted wax, and closed together over the wound.
To give a mental image would be to imagine you grabbing two sides of a shirt and zipping it up.
But the skin is the fabric, and there is no zip.
Instead, the skin merges together.
If one looks closely, they would realize that even the muscle and vessels that were damaged grew back by themselves.
And if one should observe the floor he lay on, they would realize that there was a male and female who had gone through the same bizarre healing process.
The student rose up, and his mouth broke into a large grin.
Once again, there was maniacal laughter echoing in the building.
While the person who caused this had a crazed expression on his face—
No, more accurate:
Ming Jun had twisted his face into a smile that one would imagine a perverted serial killer would have.
Just imagine the kind of face a serial killer makes as they cut the bodies of their victims.
Suddenly, the eyes that were bloodshot and crazed rolled back.
Ming Jun fainted once again.
Though he was safe for the time being, as the zombies weren't attracted to the crazed laughter.
After Ming Jun collapsed,
A cat made out of black shadow walked over to him.
The cat ran from the right side of his waist to his shoulder.
Then it jumped off his shoulder and left the classroom.
End of Self-Doubt Arc