Chapter 8: Terrible Illusion

Academy life wasn't too bad.

I guess you could call it a connection between you and me.

Well, it's just a new feeling. Living as Yoo Eun-ha. I've been doing pretty well in both the original story and at the Academy.

To escape from being the heroine, I even made sure to imprint on Han Soo-ji that I was a les.

No matter how much I thought about it, I just couldn't accept men. Well, it was annoying how Soo-ji kept acting friendly after that. But since this was a dream, I just went with it.

That's when weird things started happening.

While looking out the window, I glanced around the classroom.

Over by the desk, I saw something like a black doll. You could call it a black silhouette.

It was moving around all over, but my instincts told me it wasn't a ghost.

At least the original story wasn't a horror thriller, and Yoo Eun-ha hadn't done anything to make enemies either.

So what the hell was that thing?

So I asked my Academy friends in the dream.

"Isn't that like a spirit??"

"If it was a spirit, wouldn't it make sense that you can see it since you deal with spirits?"

"Oh, that's true actually. Is it here too?"

"Yeah, it's nodding its head in front of the teacher's podium. Like it's dozing off."

Its posture is kind of sloppy. Like it's sitting in an invisible chair and nodding off.

If Reina, who's from the Otherworld's second generation and can see spirits, can't see it - then is this really a ghost?

"Then is it a Constellation?"

"Constellation?"

"Yeah. My Constellation said there are various types, and some of them are gloomy."

This isn't just gloomy though?

Black smoke? If that's a Constellation, I'll proudly refuse the position of Avatar.

This is definitely, absolutely a dream.

There's no way something this weird could exist otherwise, right?

"...Ah, I thought it was black smoke but that's actually a suit."

How should I put it. That gloomy thing gradually started taking form.

I've gotten used to that weird, gloomy Constellation that's been visible since the weekend.

It's like having something stuck in my eye. My mind felt more at ease when I thought 'That gloomy existence has always been part of my life.'

I still can't see its face, but it'll probably evolve more over time.

There was one more problem.

"Hey. Hey, is there anything you want to eat? I'll buy you whatever."

"Oh, um. Then a smoothie."

The Flame Spear Bitch Soo-ji started seriously acting like we were close. More precisely, she was playing the role of my boyfriend.

There's a saying - if it's sweet, swallow it; if it's bitter, spit it out.

Han Soo-ji was definitely a bitch with a nasty personality at first, but looking at how she's treating me now, I could probably milk her for all she's worth.

Don't tell me it's because of that kiss?

Or does she want to get hit more?

When Han Soo-ji brought me a strawberry smoothie, I sucked it down.

"Hey, Han Soo-ji."

"Yeah?"

"If there was some black smoke-like thing in front of you that only you could see, what would you do? If it wasn't a spirit or Constellation."

"A ghost?"

"That's not what I mean."

"W-wait. Then maybe like an illusion? Or hallucination? You know, that kind of thing. Actually, we're supposed to have an instructor who deals with illusions today."

Ah, illusions. Right, that person existed.

Never thought I'd miss my Hell Joseon school life.

I kind of get it now.

"Who is it?"

"Rebecca of Illusions, a Divine Sword colleague and one of the main forces who brought down the Villain Alliance."

The Villain Alliance. An organization that existed in the prequel that was subjugated by Yoo Jin-seok and his colleagues, before their remnants opened a massive Gate in Pyongyang. From the middle to end of the prequel, they helped Yoo Jin-seok and his colleagues grow.

Among them, Rebecca the Illusion Mage was one of the few mages who could handle illusions and led a massive raid by trapping the Villain Alliance in illusions.

Right. If it's that person, they might know.

Just what the hell this gloomy thing is.

* * *

Rebecca of Illusions is currently ranked 1st or 2nd among magic-type Hunters and handles illusions.

When such a figure appeared as a teacher, our hopeful Hunter candidates were cheering with excitement.

Reina was the same.

"Yoo Eun-ha! I'm, I'm a fan of Instructor Rebecca!"

"Ah, okay."

So what do you want me to do about it?

"I said I'm a fan!"

"No, do I need to know about your fangirling?"

"Yoo Eun-ha. You're the Divine Sword's sister, right? Can't you use your connections to get Instructor Rebecca's autograph?"

"I'll do it if I have time."

"You promise?"

God this is annoying.

"I'm Rebecca, and I'll be teaching you magic. Some of you may know who I am, but if anyone dares to mess around in my class, I'll curse the boys with erectile dysfunction and the girls with lifetime menstrual cramps every month."

Holy shit, that's fucking brutal.

For guys in their prime who want to stick it in any hole they see, it's basically like getting castrated. Don't even need to mention the menstrual cramps.

"My class will teach magic to those majoring in it, and teach others how to counter magic. I don't think there will be any questions."

I need to ask her right after class.

"Now, I'll tell you what you'll be doing. From now on, you'll train to build magic resistance. Today we'll do group resistance training, then split into parts from next time."

"What exactly are these illusions?"

"Well. I plan to show you the worst illusions you'd rarely see in your measly teenage lives."

The worst illusions rarely seen in teenage lives, huh. That should be interesting.

Could there be anything worse than memories of being Yoo Eun-ha who just played internet warrior, or memories of being half-enslaved doing hard labor at a company?

How fortunate that we'll finish early and get free time.

"What illusion did you see? I saw an illusion of almost dying in a restricted dungeon."

That kid was a troublemaker,

"I saw an illusion of getting circumcised again."

And that kid lived such a happy life that circumcision was his most painful memory.

What more needs to be said.

Rebecca is cheating right now.

Rather than showing rarely seen worst illusions, she's recreating terrible memories buried in the students' minds.

I don't know what the original Yoo Eun-ha saw, but she cursed her oppa a lot.

Maybe she recalled memories of fighting about going to the Academy.

"Next up are this class's elites - Yoo Eun-ha, Choi Si-woo, Reina."

I'm relaxed. The worst nightmares I have are just being a corporate slave or whining as Yoo Eun-ha.

...

......

"Huh? Aaaaaargh!"

Everywhere I look, there are kids with shaved heads sleeping neatly in one place.

Oh God almighty. The military?

Such terrible dreams continued for a while. The first day of enlistment seemed to repeat for about an hour. The same scene over and over.

"Fuck. I almost died."

The illusion ended.

That was too much. Getting all worked up over military enlistment.

Next was collapsing from exhaustion doing overtime and field work at the company. Then memories as Yoo Eun-ha. As expected, the times of whining to oppa.

The problem was what came next.

"Huh? Ah?"

In my field of vision as I opened my eyes, Choi Si-woo with silver hair was swinging his Holy Sword.

His opponent was a strange black doll.

Ah. Is this when the Academy was raided by the Mutant?

This was definitely when Yoo Eun-ha died with an SS-Rank Core embedded in her body.

My body won't move.

I want to move, but it's like recreating that time.

Crack!

The Mage who was fighting Si-woo suddenly approached me and embedded a Monster Core in my chest.

"Kek!"

"Better to gamble than let it be taken by a Divine Sword User. Now if you survive this pain you'll be reborn anew, and if not, this Academy is finished anyway. Kuhuk!"

The Mutant used all his strength to embed the Core in my body before dying on his own terms.

And in that moment, starting from deep inside, I felt the pain of flesh and bone being torn apart and reconstructed throughout my body as my vision flashed.

This is definitely death.

My body couldn't accept the Monster Core and died.

And this death repeated countless times in different ways.

Sometimes getting it embedded while trapped in a bathroom, sometimes while kidnapped.

It repeated endlessly.

All I could do was continue screaming endless screams.

* * *

"Kyaaaaaah! Heuuk. Aaaaaargh!"

Yoo Eun-ha clutched her chest and writhed her whole body.

Without the screaming, those movements might look quite seductive, but unfortunately Eun-ha's expression thoroughly proved otherwise.

"Damn it! You. What the hell did you do to Eun-ha!"

"Are you trying to kill Eun-ha?"

Students who seemed to be Eun-ha's friends came rushing in, yelling ear-piercingly loud.

"Rebecca! You fucking bitch! What the hell did you do to Eun-ha!"

Eun-ha's homeroom teacher Kim Ji-hye grabbed Rebecca's collar.

"I just did what I always do! If anything, I thought someone like her would easily break free since at worst she'd only see fighting with Jin-seok!"

"Is that bullshit true?"

"Why would I lie! She's Jin-seok's sister, if anything I tried to show favoritism..."

"A magic instructor showing favoritism to students, you bitch?"

"What do you want me to do! You bat bitch!"

After screaming and groaning for a while, Eun-ha was carried straight to the infirmary on Si-woo's back.

"There's nothing physically wrong, so we just need to wait until she wakes up."

Thank goodness. Si-woo and Reina, who had arbitrarily made Eun-ha Friend #1 and Rival, breathed sighs of relief.

Then immediately glared at Rebecca.

"Professor, what exactly happened? Please explain honestly!"

Rebecca scratched her head roughly.

This is why kids with wet ink behind their ears are annoying.

"I'll tell you after seeing Eun-ha's condition."

Rebecca looked down at Eun-ha with a bitter expression.

Not missing this look, Kim Ji-hye quietly asked Rebecca once Si-woo and Reina left.

"What's wrong with you? Come to think of it, you're definitely acting strange. Something happened with Eun-ha right? Did you really do what you always do?"

"Kim Ji-hye. This is definitely Yoo Eun-ha right? No. Maybe since it is Eun-ha, that's why..."

Right. This must be Yoo Eun-ha. But there are too many things that don't make sense no matter how you look at it.

"What do you mean?"

"You know that even practitioners can see illusion magic right?"

"Yeah."

"Why did she see herself dying hundreds of different ways in the illusion?"

Just why? Why did this child see hundreds of deaths when illusions only show what's been experienced? I lost count partway through.

* * *