Chapter 85

The empty classroom was filled with silence.

Outside the window, a crimson sunset was flowing.

“…Guess it’s time to go home.”

Why am I at school right now?

I decided to set that question aside for now.

There was something more important at the moment.

“More importantly, my body feels a bit strange…”

I decided to check my physical condition first.

Not only were my limbs shorter, but I also had a protruding belly that I never had before. It was a horrifying state.

After moving to the back of the classroom,

I looked into the full-length square mirror placed next to the trash can.

“What the hell is this?”

The person reflected in the mirror wasn’t me.

A body shaped like the alien ET.

A head larger than my shoulders.

Short and thin limbs, like a dwarf.

An ugly man with pus-filled acne evenly distributed across his face.

And on the school uniform’s name tag, the name “Park Jin-ha” was written.

“Who the hell is Park Jin-ha?”

I didn’t know who Park Jin-ha was,

but I remembered the school uniform I was wearing.

It was the uniform from the high school I attended in this world.

***

At some point, I had lost control of my body to this guy named Park Jin-ha.

I could only share his senses and vision.

There was nothing I could do.

“Seems like they took measures to prevent me from acting on my own.”

Currently, Park Jin-ha was rushing somewhere after receiving a text from a friend.

After running for a while, we arrived at an empty lot filled with gangsters smoking heavily.

“There are so many people here.”

Five guys wearing the same uniform as Park Jin-ha.

About twenty girls in different school uniforms.

And if you included the girls in casual clothes, there were almost fifty people.

“But why did we come here?”

As I was pondering that,

Park Jin-ha, who was catching his breath, awkwardly smiled and spoke to a male student.

“Sorry! I’m a bit late, right?”

“A bit late? I told you to get here in five minutes, you bastard.”

“Sorry, hehe…”

The guy Park Jin-ha was acting subservient to seemed to be the leader of the gangsters.

“He looks like a gorilla. I feel like I might remember who he is…”

Before I could recall who he was, Park Jin-ha moved toward where the gangsters were gathered.

The gangsters had formed a circle,

surrounding one guy.

Park Jin-ha’s vision caught sight of the guy.

He was standing with his head down, his messy black hair covering half his face.

And I knew who that guy was.

It was none other than “me.”

To be precise, it was my past self from this world.

“Now I understand what’s going on.”

It seems that this illusion I’m experiencing is recreating a past event.

Not from my perspective,

but from the perspective of the person I had beaten up.

“…But did something like this really happen in the past?”

My memory was a bit hazy.

I didn’t retain all the memories from this world.

Unless it was a vivid memory,

I usually had to squeeze my brain to recall it.

“Well, I’ll remember as I go along.”

I decided to listen in on the gangsters’ chatter through Park Jin-ha’s ears.

“He actually followed us when we told him to.”

“Is he fearless or just crazy?”

“Is that Gye Se-hoon?”

“Yeah. I heard all my boyfriend’s friends got beaten up by him.”

“They say he’s strong for a guy. Good at fighting.”

“Well, he’s still just a guy.”

“Hey, don’t you think he’d look really handsome if we shaved his head?”

“True. Even with his hair covering his eyes, he’s good-looking.”

“His proportions are model-level.”

“I’m not into tall guys.”

“Nobody asked about your preferences, you crazy bitch.”

“But he’s not saying a word.”

“I heard he doesn’t talk much. Lives a life cut off from people.”

“Is he mentally ill?”

As I listened to their conversation,

I finally managed to recall the situation.

“Ah, I remember now.”

The reason the gangsters were gathered here wasn’t anything special.

This empty lot was just their hangout.

And coincidentally,

while I was passing by this area,

one of the gangsters recognized me and brought me here.

The reason?

Because I had beaten up their boyfriends and their friends.

“They deserved it.”

Those guys were trash who deserved to be beaten.

They were the type to mercilessly bully weaker male students.

Extorting money was just the basics.

They would make them do errands or beat them up whenever they felt like it.

Of course, I had no personal connection to the bullied student.

I just helped because they were getting on my nerves.

After finishing my recollection,

I looked at my past self again through Park Jin-ha’s eyes.

“……”

Still with his head down,

he kept his mouth shut, ignoring everything the gangsters were saying.

His demeanor was beyond just being quiet—it was downright eerie.

“Seeing this from a third-person perspective, it’s kinda scary.”

Anyway,

it wouldn’t be long before the gangsters resorted to violence.

And then they would get beaten up in return.

I don’t know how this illusion was created, but as long as I endured the violence from my past self, I would pass the trial.

It wasn’t going to be hard.

I was as used to getting hit as I was to hitting.

***

The situation unfolded exactly as it had in my memories.

By the time about ten female gangsters had been taken down,

the rest of the gangsters started to flee in fear.

Park Jin-ha, who shared my senses, was also trying to get away.

But it was only a matter of time before he got caught.

My past self didn’t chase the female gangsters—only the male ones from the same school.

“Se-Se-hoon, wait! I had nothing to do with this…!”

A heavy fist landed in Park Jin-ha’s stomach.

“Ugh…!”

The pain was transmitted to me as well.

Even though I didn’t have control over the body,

I could still feel everything.

“He deserved it.”

It wasn’t unbearable.

My past self had controlled his strength.

Enough to hurt but not kill.

Only my mind remained intact.

“Ugh, ugh…! I won’t bully anyone again, so please forgive me…!”

Park Jin-ha writhed in pain,

tears, snot, and urine streaming down his face.

What a pathetic guy, unable to endure even this.

“Sorry, I’m sorry…! I won’t force anyone into compensated dating either…! Please…!”

My past self didn’t even pretend to listen to Park Jin-ha’s pleas and mercilessly twisted his arm.

“Ahhh! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll apologize for putting thumbtacks on your chair too!”

Next, he broke his leg.

The sound of bones cracking echoed crisply.

“Ahhh! S-Stop…!”

Finally, after being slapped multiple times, he passed out with his eyes open.

Ah, of course, only Park Jin-ha passed out.

My mind was still perfectly fine.

“Is this how I pass the trial? Easy.”

Just as I thought that,

my consciousness shifted from Park Jin-ha’s body to that gorilla-like guy.

And then I started getting beaten up by my past self again.

“Hmm. This guy’s body is tougher, so he can endure more. He’s just an average guy from this world with balloon muscles.”

After that,

my consciousness kept shifting to other people I had beaten up.

Of course, I could endure all of it.

“Empathy my ass… Just because I’m in these bastards’ shoes, you think I’d regret the violence and feel remorse…?”

Honestly, I don’t like pain either.

But right now, I could take it with joy.

Because all the guys I was sharing senses with were human trash.

While I was happily getting beaten up repeatedly,

a memory of domestic violence I experienced because of this incident suddenly surfaced.

“…Wait, why is this memory coming up now? I wasn’t even trying to recall it.”

Parents who, just like I beat people up outside,

would yell at me to try hitting them back and then resort to violence.

And my past self, who just took it silently as usual.

Parents who made domestic violence a daily routine would always hit me without reason, but when they finally had a reason, they beat me even more ruthlessly.

As if they had been waiting for it.

“The more I think about it, the more frustrating it is. Whether it’s parents or whatever, just fight back and become a parricide…”

I quickly erased that memory from my mind.

It was a useless memory to dwell on.

I decided to forget all the depressing memories and focus on getting beaten up.

***

How much time had passed?

It felt like almost a day had gone by.

I was getting used to the pain,

and just as I was starting to get bored,

“……Trial passed.”

I snapped back to reality upon hearing the voice from the speaker.

Finally, I had awakened from the illusion.

【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】—?? What did you do to pass?

【Handsome Licker】—You passed in one second without doing anything. Lick.

【Qkrnfl892】—Did something glitch?

After looking around for a moment,

I checked the chat window on my phone.

It seemed the viewers hadn’t seen the illusion I experienced.

Moreover,

only a few seconds seemed to have passed.

It was a strange occurrence.

【Maehwa Tree】—Was it an illusion or empathy or something?

【Jujijoa】—Yeah, but nothing happened.

【Drifting AI】—I’ll say it. I saw it.

【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】—Saw what, you crazy bitch.

【Reverse Rape Mania】—Maybe they just let you pass because the 2nd floor isn’t ready yet?

【Yoho】—That seems likely.

【Handsome Licker】—You really lucked out. Lick.

I thought about explaining but decided against it.

They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“Customer number 20, please proceed to the final trial location.”

After hearing the voice from the speaker,

I went down to the 1st floor to proceed with the final trial.

“Welcome.”

On the 1st floor, an employee wearing a clown mask was waiting for me.

***

The location where the Hell Escape Hotel once stood.

It was now an empty lot, and two groups were conducting a search.

“Director, are you sure this is the right place?”

“…It should be around here.”

“There’s not even a motel, let alone a hotel.”

“That’s strange.”

“But… Why are those girls here?”

“I don’t know. They must have some business here.”

Daehan Seoul Group.

Big Girl Seong Sori and Team Leader Park.

And the members of her line.

“This doesn’t seem like the right place.”

“I just talked to the young lady again, and she said it’s definitely around here.”

“Why are those thugs here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re here to bury someone.”

“It’s annoying how they’re staring at us.”

“Just ignore them. If we fight Big Girl, we’ll lose.”

World’s top-ranked company.

Oseong Group’s special security team members.

While these two groups were wandering the empty lot, engaging in an invisible battle of nerves,

“Hey, what are those colorful things over there?”

One of the security team members spoke loudly.

At her words, everyone in the empty lot turned their gaze in the direction she was looking.

“Wow, their hair is really colorful.”

“What are those girls doing?”

“Huh? Those people look really familiar…”

“Wait, aren’t they that super famous circus troupe from around the world?”

A line of women walking toward the empty lot.

They were the members of the circus troupe that Se-hoon Defense Team belonged to.

“Director, those clown girls are heading this way, aren’t they?”

“It seems so.”

“But why is a circus troupe coming here?”

“Maybe they’re here to perform.”

“Do you really think that makes sense?”

As the circus troupe arrived at the empty lot,

a red-haired woman stepped forward from among the members.

Then,

after glancing at the women who had been searching the area, she spoke.

“Ladies, we have some business here at this empty lot, so if you don’t mind, could you please leave?”

It was Han Yu-i from Se-hoon Defense Team.

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