'Open up! Open up! I said open up, you
f*cking b*stard!!'
"Goodbye, Prez~"
"Bye, Joon~"
"Ugh! Mmph! Mmmmph-!"
Unlike me, who was pounding from inside the coffin, they stubbornly finished hammering in the nails and then wrapped the remaining seams heavily with duct tape, sealing it shut without even the slightest gap.
Soon, friendly conversation was heard.
"Guys, until now I've only been thinking about my own struggles. But the truth is, you're ordinary people without any special abilities, and each of you must have been carrying your own hardships too."
"It's okay, Prez. Apologizing is enough. And it's only right that we look after you. You're an important person who will save this world."
"Joon... when I told you to lean on me when things get hard, I truly meant it...I'm really okay, so contact me anytime..."
"Thank you, everyone."
"Ahaha....".
"Ohoho...."
"Hahaha..."
The sound of warm, affectionate laughter.
'Don't laugh, f*ck! Why are you cracking up while killing people? Are you out of your damn minds!'
I thumped and twisted my body again.
"Mmph, mmph, mmph... T-Teacher Jang Hwaeun! Teacher Jang Hwaeun!!"
I need to call Teacher Jang Hwaeun!!
If it's Teacher Jang Hwaeun, she'll listen to me!
If it's Teacher Jang Hwaeun! If it's her,
at least she won't abandon me!
"Stop it"
Someone told me to stop playfully.
In Hayoon.
Her voice sounded strangely cheerful. Soon after, perhaps Hayoon had brought her face close to the coffin, her voice was heard again, closer this time.
"I don't want to help you, Joon~"
"Ummph! Mmmph! Mmph!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Don't f*cking mess with me! Let me out!
I twisted my body with all my might, but instead, my skin only got scraped against the wood and pricked by the nails.
"Now, who will move the coffin out into space? It's heavy, so two people will have to lift it together. Since they need to help each other put on latex suits, let's pick two people of the same gender."
"If that's the case, first, the strong one Lee Jinhee and-"
"Then the remaining one is Hayoon.."
"Ummph! Mmph! Hup! Mmmph!"
The others chatted amicably, discussing who would stay behind.
All the while completely ignoring me thrashing wildly inside the coffin.
"Okay. Lee Jinhee and In Hayoon are selected. Here. This is the latex outfit Teacher Jang Hwaeun wore before, plus another set I bought. I also left some slip-on lubricant to make it easier to put on."
"Oh. So thoughtful."
"We'll wait out in the hallway, so get changed and seal up all the seams.
Don't forget to put on the mask."
"Okay. Don't worry."
"Don't peek, Joon."
"I won't. I'm leaving it to you."
"Mmph! Ugh! Mmph!!"
Soon, only me inside the coffin, Jinhee,
and Hayoon remained, and everyone else left the club room.
Thud, thud, thud.
Creak- click.
The club room instantly grew quiet. The sound of Hayoon and Jinhee silently loosening and taking off their school uniforms could be heard.
Slip-
"Hey, do we have to take off our undergarments too?"
"Just do it like when you put on the leggings."
"Ah, um.."
Hayoon spoke in a calm tone, while Jinhee's voice sounded hesitant.
Soon, the sound of the two, having completely undressed and applying lubricant to their bodies, could be heard.
Chapak, chapak-
"Ugh- f*ck, it's slippery. Do we really have to put this on?"
"Yeah. It'll be difficult if you don't."
Chapak, slick-
'Mmph, mmph- ugh- haa, haa...
After struggling wildly, I briefly lost my
strength and panted for breath.
As I gasped for breath inside the coffin, the two girls quietly helped each other to apply the lubricant.
"Help me too."
"Uh, yeah. Wow, you're really damn slim."
"Just the back. I'l do the rest."
"Yeah... okay."
Soon, I could hear Jinhee pulling the zipper and starting to change into the latex suit.
At that moment, Hayoon suddenly walked toward me with slow footsteps and leaned her head down.
"Joon, do you want me to let you out?"
".....!!"
Thump, thump.
I nodded as hard as I could while twisting my whole body with all my strength.
Then her calm voice came again.
"Even though we're both undressed?"
"I put lubricant on my body so it's slippery. Do you want to see?"
"Ugh, ugh, ugh, mmph
Thud, thud, thud-
I lifted my neck with all my strength and slammed my head against the lid.
Hayoon leaned her face close to where my head was and whispered again.
"No. I won't show you."
Thud- thud- thump-
"Joony is a pervert."
After saying only that, her voice faded away again, and Hayoon continued changing her clothes.
"Ugh, ugh, mmph-
Even as the two girls were changing their clothes, I tried to express with my whole body, banging my against the coffin, that I just wanted to be let out, but neither of them showed any reaction.
After the final sound of a zipper being pulled up, Jinhee knocked on the door of the clubroom.
"We're ready. Go ahead and start."
From outside, Lee Joon's voice replied, 'Okay', and with the sound of the door clicking open and shut, the space expansion of the clubroom began.
Woo, W00-
Even from inside the coffin, I could feel a faint trembling vibration.
Soon, with a sudden whoosh- sound as the air was sucked away, the clubroom was transported into space.
In the vacuum, Hayoon and Jinhee, clad in latex suits, slowly came toward me.
"..."
"Umph! Mmph! Mmph!"
Perhaps because they had blocked it without any gaps, not a single bit of air was leaking out inside the coffin.
I slammed and pounded with all my strength, banging my head until it started bleeding and thrashed around, but the two girls showed no sign of disturbance as they slowly lifted the coffin.
Because the inside of the clubroom had turned almost into space, the gravity was weak. Even though it was just the two girls carrying the coffin, they lifted it up easily and slowly headed toward the window.
"Huff, huff."
Even as I struggled desperately to the point where my face turned red and my skin got scraped off, it had no effect whatsoever, and I was carried away by the two seductive female students wearing latex suits.
Soon, the coffin was gently pushed out
through the window, floating away.
And just like that, without any farewell,
I felt the coffin I was in drifting endlessly through the empty universe.
The presence of the two girls talked gradually grew distant.
Perhaps I've already drifted several dozen meters away.
Inside the coffin, I couldn't properly feel anything at all.
But I could tell it was the end.
"..Haa, haa, haa, haa."
Thud, thud.
I struck the wall one last time, then stopped resisting and slumped down, resting my head against it.
"..It's, it's over."
It's over.
I have now reached a point of no return.
I am now floating lightly in the vastness of the universe.
Toward a demon-shaped nebula, vast
enough to rival several distant galaxies.
Empty space. The universe.
Now there is nothing left.
Here, only an endlessl space stretches out.
I will drift like this forever.
Forever.....
***
How much time had passed?
As Lee Joon had said, I hadn't died. I had clearly felt hunger, fatigue, and even a lack of oxygen, but strangely enough, I did not die.
This is... the method I once thought of.
Previously, during the Kim Eunjung incident, I had once suggested that instead of eliminating Eunjung, we postpone encountering her until three years later.
It was a method that took advantage of the system's game-like characteristics.
After defeating the final boss, the Demon King, and reaching the happy ending, the minor mobs you had passed by will no longer exist.
Now I had completely fallen for it myself.
'...Do I just have to wait like this?'
Until Lee Joon reached the happy ending?.
No, come to think of it, it made sense.
The Eunjung method wasn't something I came up with. It was something Lee Joon had thought of.
I am just a fake who inherited that memory.
"..."
After a brief moment of reflection, I shook my head again.
Something was different.
I am not some kind of fake.
If every single cell was perfectly copied and I inherited all memories and consciousness, then that would be another true version of myself, an existence that cannot be casually
dismissed as fake.
Right, if you think about it, it's like a mass-produced item.
There's the first batch of Shrimp Crackers ever made, and then there's the Shrimp Crackers I'm eating right now...
Is only the very first bag of Shrimp Crackers that came off the factory line the real one, and the Shrimp Crackers I'm eating now fake...?
In situations like that, it doesn't matter which one is 'real' or 'fake.'
There's simply some things that came first and some things that came later; so you can't really say that one is the 'real' one.
'If we're identical, then we're both real,'
I'm not a fake. I'm the real Lee Joon.
So let's think about it.
All the countless things I've experienced up until now.
Technically, it wasn't my body that went through those experiences, but if the soul is the same, then it's true that I experienced them.
That's true for the original Lee Joon as well.
He also never experienced those things
physically, only mentally.
He, too, only had his consciousness return each time, it wasn't his body that came back.
Then in the end, we were the same.
If my current memories aren't things I truly experienced myself, and I merely inherited the consciousness, then for him, the events of the past weren't things he truly experienced either, time simply went back, and only the consciousness was passed on.
As my thoughts reached that point inside the coffin, something suddenly flashed through my mind, and I felt my will to survive surge back to life.
'No, f*ck, wait a second. That b*stard was acting all arrogant because he thought he was the real one. But there wasn't really any reason for him to insist on that, was there?'
What, so because I can move through space at will and cause electronic devices to malfunction, I'm just some kind of ghost story?
Looking at it that way, the Status Window that recognized him as the hero also recognized me as the same kind of existence, and granted me the same abilities, didn't it?
'No, the more I think about that b*stard, the funnier it gets. He shows up all high-and-mighty like the main character, acting detached and aloof the whole time. But when I think about it, it's not like he's anything special just because he's 'himself".
f*ck, I'm real too, you b*stard.
And on top of yor abilities, I even have the additional ability of being a ghost story.
"Teleportation!"
Yes. I can move through space.
And I can stay alive like this even without air, water, or food.
Everything is the same, and on top of that I even have the ability of a ghost story?
Then I'm actually the more impressive One.
Then forget about being acknowledged, telling me to admit it and get lost.
We only inherited the consciousness, we were the same in that regard, and I haven't even done anything wrong yet.
Why did he act crazy?
I'll kill that b*stard!"
I'm going to f*cking kill that bastard.
From the moment he sent me away after making me feel this humiliated, there's no reason to coexist.
When I get back, I'll kill him. Without fail.
And as for the bastard Gyeongwon, who betrayed and backstabbed me, I'll beat him until he can't live a normal life and make him a cripple.
As for the rest, I'l listen to their apologies and think it over slowly.
'Huff, huff, umph!"'
I began twisting my whole body, trying
to recall how I had been able to move
through space.
When I left school and went to the police station.
When I returned home. And the day of the exam, when I went to school.
Until the last time I ran away to the street to avoid the members earlier.
I wasn't particularly aware that I had used such an ability, I just did it.
"This is something I do unconsciously!"
I didn't think I couldn't do it, or that it was difficult.
I just did it naturally and unconsciously, without thinking.
"Haa, haa, haa. Let's try it in a different way. The doctrine of the Void Cult.'
Even though this body is Lee Jun's, now that I've become a ghost story, the answer lies within that doctrine.
Void. This world is empty.
Excuding the nucleus and electrons from the components that make up matter, 99.999% of everything we see is empty space.
Each single cell of my body is Lee Joon, but somewhere within that 99.999% empty space, an additional component of the Demon King is dwelling.
I am the very divine component that
the followers of the Void cult desire, the one who can fill that empty space.
Like Teacher Choi Jungim, who turned into a monster after consuming the Demon King's component, I, now turned into a ghost story, can use those abilities
'Now, as if it were completely natural.Relax.'
Very naturally.
I will go home.
Don't think about how many tens of
thousands of light-years this place is
from Earth.
Don't think about the fact that you're tied up and can't even move a finger.
That kind of thing is all an illusion.
This world is empty.
Void.
Just escape.
Don't think about why it works, just escape.
Just.
"....."
"....."
***
I don't know how many minutes or hour have pass.
"Hooo"
I took a slow, long deep breath.
Warm sunlight faintly filtering through
my closed eyelids.
Home.
Even my eyes were covered with tape,
so I couldn't open them.
With my whole body tied up, I squirmed and crawled along the wooden floor, then bumped into something like a dresser with a thud.
It's a corner.
If I just slip my hand in here, I can rip the tape straight through.
Rilip- rip.
"....."
Finally, with my hands freed, I hurriedly untied the ropes binding my entire body and peeled off the tape Over my eyes and mouth.
Riip- riip-
"Ow, ow.. hoo."
With my eyes still closed, I slowly rubbed my eyelids.
The warm light and fresh air.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around, and realized it was the living room of my home, where sunlight was streaming in.
"..Haaah."
Hoo... haaah. Ha..
I slowly slump down on the sofa.
And take a deep, steady breath.
"Hoo... hoo..."
"....."
From now on, I'm going to completely destroy those bastard.