Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 38: There is a title with the same name (1)

In the blink of an eye, Seorin and I were in an unknown place.

We were in an empty classroom in an unnamed building.

It’s definitely not our university.

Also, the clothes we were wearing had been replaced by school uniforms.

I don’t know what these clothes are or where I am but I knew one thing for sure.

The episode had begun, and we had entered the ‘Academy’ under its influence.

That was all I needed to know.

I grabbed Seorin’s arm as she looked around and said.

“We won’t be in the Academy for long.”

“Huh……?”

“Do you remember what you just heard, sister?”

Seorin scratched her head and replied.

“Go to a nearby school and then go to the academy…didn’t they say that?”

“That’s right, but we were already at school because of the exam.”

“……We’re unlucky, aren’t we? Such is life.”

Seorin laughed hysterically when she realized what I meant.

We’ve been in line even before the notification came, so we’ve been dragged right in.

“What about the others?”

“Probably still in the cafeteria, where you can’t get in without a story.”

“Oh, well, they must be pretty freaked out……? Shouldn’t we get back soon?”

She bit her lip as she looked out the window, worried about the boys.

Outside was a much larger space than the campus.

I only caught a glimpse of the nearby clearing through the classroom window, but that was enough to tell me that the Academy was bigger than I imagined.

But the dormitory rooms were high up, and I was strangely afraid to look around for too long.

“Ugh, ugh…….”

As we paused in our conversation, I heard a very small sob coming from the classroom.

I turned my head to see someone slumped down next to me.

“There.”

“Help me. Help me… what the hell happened…….”

“Hey. Can’t you hear me?”

It was Lee Min-seo.

He was dressed in a school uniform like the rest of us, but he was lying on his stomach, so I didn’t recognize him for a moment.

“Why are you here?”

As soon as I said it, I realized what happened.

When a person with a story approaches the school, they enter the ‘academy’ and Lee Min-seo has a story.

Whether he wanted to fight or not, he had to be taken in like the rest of us.

“Where am I……? Huh?”

“…….”

I sighed as I looked at him.

This is the beginning of a world that wasn’t in the game.

I don’t know where to start and Lee Min-seo was dragged here.

……It was the worst environment.

* * *

“Are you calm now?”

“Yes…….”

Sister Seorin patted Lee Min-seo’s back.

He didn’t listen to my story, only begging for help but now I was able to explain the situation to him while he cleaned his glasses.

“Anyway, like us, you have a story, and you’ve been pulled into a different worldview. Do you understand?”

“I understand, I just didn’t think I’d lose anything by telling a story.”

“Then do you want to drop the story? You can still do that while you’re still ‘undecided’.”

“No. There’s no way I’m crazy.”

He doesn’t want to give it up, even though he has no use for it.

After all, it could be used for self-defense.

“Then get up, let’s get out of here.”

“What? Can we get out of here?”

“It’s only episode 2. I don’t know what kind of atmosphere this place has, but… I don’t think they’ll lock us up and keep us from going back.”

I walked to the back of the large lecture hall and stood in front of the door.

There was no doorknob, so I wondered if it was a sliding door, but the door recognized me and opened automatically.

…This is an academy, isn’t this an old setting?

The classrooms and buildings outside the window weren’t built in a classical style.

Rather, it was clean and futuristic.

Well, academies aren’t exactly a genre that’s set in a specific time period.

“I’ll check around the neighborhood for a bit. You two wait here.”

“How long will it take?”

“Less than five minutes. I’m just going to take a look around.”

“…… Come back quickly. We’re nothing without you.”

“I don’t think so……”

[Your story begins.]

I stuck my head out the door and checked the hallway.

When I saw no one, I ran down the hallway, which was a bit longer.

I got to where I could see the main staircase, but I didn’t see anyone else.

“This can’t be happening…….”

The hallway was silent, my footsteps not even echoing.

I couldn’t figure out why there was no one in the home of the worldview that was about to invade reality.

I wondered if it was an abandoned school or something, but it was a well-lit building.

……I guess I’ll have to go downstairs.

I pressed the button for the elevator next to the stairs and stepped inside.

Five floors above ground and five floors below, it was a strange building with ten floors in total.

If there were people on the ground, they would have heard me, so I pressed the button labeled “B1” and went down to the basement.

Of course, never letting my guard down.

Ding-.

The doors opened with the sound of the elevator arriving.

At the same time, I heard a loud roar, so I quickly exited the elevator and hid in a corner.

The basement floor was the cafeteria.

All the students I hadn’t seen before were gathered here, eating.

Without any twists, every single student here was human.

If I was spotted here, would I be chased by hundreds of them?

…… For now, I crouched low and eavesdropped on their conversations.

“Hey, when’s lab day? I was asleep and didn’t hear.”

“That professor was mad. He said you were asking hard questions and not participating. What’s wrong with you?”

“Go eat.”

With all the different conversations going on, it was hard to hear much of anything.

And even when I did, it was hard to tell if it was anything worth understanding.

In Dreams game, the importance of the characters in an episode has always varied.

In episode 2, it was important to talk to a character to get information, but in the very next episode, it might not be at all.

If there are stories that emphasize the supporting cast, there are stories that do the opposite.

Still…it’s an academy, so it seemed like a good idea to know its structure and who the important people are.

No matter how they invade our reality, there will be someone giving these students instructions.

A ‘professor,’ for example.

“Hmm.”

I suddenly looked down at my uniform and wondered.

I wondered if I’d worn this uniform for nothing.

And did it allow me to enter the Academy for nothing?

Perhaps, I am now recognized as a student of this academy?

I couldn’t be sure because this episode never happened in Dreams Game, but it seemed unlikely that the outfit would have changed for no real reason.

There was only one way to prove this conjecture.

[Your story is interrupted.]

I stood tall in the doorway of the elevator, and dismissed the story.

Now every student here would see me.

If I’m treated as a ‘student’, I’ll live.

If not, the chase is on.

……And, no, I was not attacked.

I got some strange looks as I stood still, but that was it.

In this episode, we become students at the Academy.

* * *

“It’s really not that bad…….”

“Right?”

I went back upstairs, explained the situation, and ushered Seorin and Min-Seo out of the classroom.

Lee Min-seo’s stomach dropped with every step he took, but he relented when he saw a student walk by.

When I get back, I’ll send him home so he can’t go near the school.

“This is a lot different than the first episode. I thought the students would just come out and fight like last time.”

“Well, it’s the same fight every time, only the enemies change, and the way to survive is different each time.”

“Really?”

Seorin straightened her school uniform as we walked side by side.

We were all college students, so I thought the uniforms would look weird, but they don’t.

We didn’t feel out of place even though many students passed by and blended into the crowd.

Well, adults also do things like uniform dates.

“You look good in your uniform.”

“……What, me?”

“You look like you’ve never been complimented before. You’re embarrassed.”

“Well, I don’t really remember the days of wearing school uniforms.”

As we chatted, we took the stairs down to the first floor to familiarize ourselves with the academy.

As soon as I reached the main staircase, I saw the glass main entrance with a huge lobby in front of me.

But for some reason, I couldn’t see beyond the glass.

It was as if the game didn’t want me to enter a space I didn’t need to, and there was nothing but a white background behind the glass.

“That must be the exit.”

“When we go to leave, all of a sudden the students turn around and chase us, like in a horror game.”

“That’s a lot of hype.”

“That was some real hysteria.”

“Just saying…….”

Lee Min-seo’s unfounded fears were immediately negated.

No one paid us any attention until we were completely down the stairs and had our hands on the doorknob.

……Lee Min-seo breathed a sigh of relief.

“We came all this way and we can’t see outside. What’s going on in this room?”

“Is the door open?”

“Nope. It’s not locked, and I don’t see anyone saying anything, so I guess I can just walk out.”

I opened the door and was the first one out.

I couldn’t see, but there were no walls, so I didn’t bump into anything as I went straight ahead.

And then I closed my eyes and opened them.

“……?”

I’ve exited into a place that is neither the academy nor the university cafeteria.

This was the main entrance to my university, where I usually take the shuttle bus.

Yeeeeeee-ing.

As soon as I got back outside, I was bombarded with texts from the club members.

I hadn’t heard from them in a while.

……It looks like nothing happened while we were gone, which is good.

A few minutes later, Seorin and Lee Min-seo appeared from the front door.

“Is everything okay?”

“Ha, ha, ha… That’s right… Yes, but where are we……?”

“The front gate of the school.”

I can’t nag him since he didn’t come with me of his own free will.

Still, now that we’re safely back outside, I have nothing to worry about.

I walked over to Min-seo, who had relaxed and was squatting down.

“You’ve been through a lot. I know you must have been scared, but you should go home and get some rest.”

“What about you two……?”

“We’re just going to go back in and look around for a couple hours, we were here for the episode in the first place.”

“Oh, yeah, right.”

Min-seo stood up and jerked his head in the direction of a nearby bus stop.

“Well… be careful then.”

“You should be careful. It’s the start of an episode, so I’m sure something will happen like last time. Avoid noisy places and get home quickly.”

“Okay, thanks.”

With that, Lee Min-seo escaped the academy safely and went home.

I also left a DM for the panicked club members, reassuring them that they could go home without worry.

“Are you ready, Sis? Let’s go back inside.”

“Are we going to make it back before the bus leaves again today?”

“……I hope so.”

It was time to head back into the academy.