DNLYHS Chapter 11 (Part 3)

Everyone exchanged bewildered looks. What on earth was happening?

They could guess that Yeongwon, who’d gone to the annex, had triggered something. And they could accept that the janitor being a “foreign entity” made sense. But…

“Beyond the boundary of the living?”

“…Didn’t you already have a rough idea? This place isn’t the world of the living.”

“Well, yes, but…”

While the monitor and the cook were talking, the broadcasting adviser staggered back toward the blood-stained equipment and sat down. He switched on the microphone and read the script in a calm voice, as if performing his duty was the only thing he understood how to do.

“Hold on. If we go to the auditorium and end the ritual, then… could that kid come back to life?”

“From the context, probably not. They’re treating ‘completion’ and ‘termination’ as two separate concepts.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? That makes no sense! We finally caught the spy, and you’re telling me it all ends just like that? How does that make any sense!”

“Calling him a spy is a stretch. The janitor was still the seventh participant. In the end, he was one of the beings required for the ritual to function.”

Then what were they supposed to do? Should they grit their teeth and endure until the 14th day instead?

They listened to the adviser’s broadcast while glancing anxiously toward the hallway. If surviving was still an option, maybe enduring was better, but…

“What, what is that? Outside the window…!”

“Don’t stick your head out. Get against the wall!”

The sky beyond the shattered window was red now. Where cold moonlight used to pour in, something so bizarre it hurt just to look at was staring into the building.

It was impossible to tell if it was alive or not. But whatever it was, it had a will, and it was drawing closer. Or… was it really approaching? Maybe it had always been exactly where it was. The more the people inside the school came to understand what it truly was, the more it appeared to close the distance…

“We can’t hold out. How do you expect us to survive three whole days like this!”

There was no way they could endure until the 14th day. It almost felt like being allowed to flee right now was their final mercy. If they wanted anyone left alive, they had to move immediately. There might not even be time to go fetch the school nurse on the first floor…!

Just then, as the monitor was venting his frustration, the broadcasting adviser, fresh from finishing the announcement, looked their way with tear-stained eyes.

“…If three days could pass in an instant… would it be possible?”

“What are you talking about?”

“They said manipulating the digital clock is forgiven only once. After that, they’d never overlook it again. But on the flip side… if you don’t care about being forgiven, you could probably manipulate the clock as many times as you want.”

He spoke and immediately took the digital clock off the wall. The monitor and the cook exchanged a look, they understood what he intended.

If that really worked, then “completion” of the ritual was possible. The Code of Conduct was already barely functioning. Even if they broke it, only the individual would be punished. The ritual itself wouldn’t collapse.

“…And what are you planning to do if they count it as breaking the rules multiple times? That won’t end with light punishment.”

The cook asked with a stiff face. But he already knew what the answer would be. The broadcasting adviser had accepted this from the start.

“…If I did something wrong, I need to be punished for it.”

“……”

“Where is everyone else? We probably don’t have much time. The janitor doesn’t exist, but someone will come to hand down punishment…. Please bring the others to the auditorium before that happens.”

The two men hesitated for only a moment before nodding and sprinting out of the broadcast room.

The adviser watched their retreating backs, then turned his attention to the digital clock. He keyed in the time he wanted. The digits were already shattered and unreadable, but the moment the numbers shifted, the [Homeroom] switch on the equipment lit up.

“Hello. We will now begin the morning broadcast. Starting today, the day may pass a little more quickly….”

From the far end of the hallway came the sensation of something approaching, something that could neither be seen nor heard. Perhaps that was the true being behind the role of the “janitor.” A creature from beyond death, approaching to punish those who violated the Code… or simply those who should not exist in this world.

Even so, the broadcasting adviser focused on his duty.

For once, he hoped he could take responsibility for the countless mistakes he had made.

* * *

“Huh…? Wh-what was that?”

A horrendous scream and deep rumble shook the distance, making Yeonseo collapse onto the floor. He grabbed a bookshelf and pulled himself upright.

It looked like a hallway, but what on earth was happening out there? Had the janitor caused some disaster? Was Yeongwon okay? Were the others okay? His head buzzed with a thousand questions, but there was only one thing he could do.

He had to keep moving. He had to find every mark he had left behind and piece together his past before it was too late.

― Did I… do something wrong to you?

― What, you don’t have ears? Didn’t you hear the other kids talking? I never should’ve humored an idiot like you who babbles about “being curious.” Don’t ever show up in front of me again!

There wasn’t much he could learn from fragmented lines like that. Just a sense, something had gone wrong. A certainty that the other person had no intention of listening to him.

― You know him, right? The kid everyone in his class beats on like some kind of sandbag. They say a few kids are taking out their stress on him. Everyone else pretends not to notice since exams are coming up.

― Hey, why would you bring that up? How is that his fault?

― …Should we report it?

― The school violence committee? Don’t stir up trouble. If he wanted to report it, he would’ve already. If things get bigger, he might be even more stressed out.

Even following the scattered traces, Yeonseo felt guilt and misery rising in his chest. Maybe he hadn’t committed a “crime,” but he hadn’t done his best either. Regretting the moments he failed someone precious.

He shouldn’t have left that person alone like that. He shouldn’t have waved their plea away with the excuse that they didn’t want him around.

― …It’s your fault.

― ……

― I don’t need someone like you. All you do is make things harder.

The record ended there. Even if Yeonseo retraced the path further, only unmarked forks awaited him. Now he truly had no choice but to find the way out. Whether he could manage that was another question.

‘Just keep heading toward the sound… it’s still a labyrinth, so there’s no guarantee that’ll lead to the exit.’

He quickened his steps while turning over the storm of emotions rising inside him.

After following all those traces and reading each one again and again, the emotion filling him the most was regret.

‘Was I afraid? That I wouldn’t be able to help at all, and would only make things worse for him?’

The farther he walked, the clearer that emotion became. What the words on the walls had failed to capture, what simple language couldn’t fully express, those feelings were slowly returning.

He had been powerless. He could only watch what was happening before his eyes. No, he only thought he had no choice. If he’d looked harder, there must have been something he could have done. There had to be some part where he could have helped.

‘If only I’d thought a little more about why he was acting that way.’

Had he really not known? Even when the boy snapped and pushed him away, his eyes had always been following Yeonseo’s back. Was he really making things worse just by being there? If he’d stayed by his side, wouldn’t things have gotten even a little better?

No, maybe that wasn’t the real issue. Maybe what he had done wrong wasn’t mere neglect, but something far more decisive.

Walking toward the source of the noise, Yeonseo found a line of text drawn where he hadn’t left any mark. It looked as if someone had painted it with fresh blood, red and reeking of iron.

― Please, read this to the end. I’m leaving this letter because if things keep going like this, I feel like you’ll never listen to me again. Even if you blocked every way I could reach you, you can still read this much. It’s not like I’ll get some notification saying you opened it.

― I just wanted to be your friend. I liked you from the moment I first saw you. You felt so much like me. When I was with you, this loneliness I couldn’t escape seemed to wear down a little, and the weight on my chest eased. I wasn’t teasing you like people say. I really meant it.

― I wondered if that was why you avoided me. But it’s really not like that. Even if you truly want to end things between us… there’s something I want to say to you. Preferably face-to-face.

― If it’s okay… would you meet me on graduation day? I’ll be waiting behind the auditorium.

At the bottom of that long letter was a strange notation: [Unread / Back to the Beginning].

Yeonseo wondered what it meant.

‘So the letter itself doesn’t matter? He said he never read it anyway…’

But “back to the beginning”? What beginning?

As he puzzled over it, realization struck him like lightning.

The beginning wasn’t the start of the letter. It meant the beginning of the long “record” he’d been following all this time.

― Actually, there’s someone I like. Now isn’t the right time, but I’m thinking of confessing on graduation day. Would you cheer me on?

That line wasn’t from the letter at all. It was probably from some conversation he’d had with a friend, someone he was fairly close to.

But what had been delivered to the boy wasn’t the letter. It was that story instead. Twisted in a way that gave weight to all the strange rumors already spreading around school.

Even without anyone telling him, buried memory whispered the truth. He remembered the look in the boy’s eyes, tired, resigned, as he looked at Yeonseo. The hoarse “I’m done” under his breath, the back turned away as he ignored Yeonseo calling after him, running off without looking back.

Yeonseo had known then, something snapped. The last rope the boy had been clinging to had broken. Even if he reached for him again, there would be no second chance. Which meant…

‘So that’s it. What I said… killed you.’

The crushing despair buckled Yeonseo’s knees.

The shelves blocking his sight suddenly melted away with a wet sound, revealing a white wall and a wooden door beyond.

“Yeonseo! Yeonseo, are you in there?!”

The door burst open. The man behind it felt strangely older, even though they’d been apart only briefly. He stood there with the same earnest, upright expression as always, unaware of anything that had happened, and yet somehow aged by years Yeonseo hadn’t witnessed.

“Uh, ah…?”

“Thank goodness, you were right by the door! Come on, quickly!”

When the man reached out his hand, Yeonseo took it blankly. His unconscious mind screamed with aching longing, the longing of someone who had waited far too long for that warm, steady hand to hold his.

I wanted to save you.

He had only just remembered it, but it was a wish buried deep in him for a very long time.

[…Don’t go.]

A beast-like roar, nothing human, hurtled toward them.

“Go, now!”

With a deafening crash, the wooden door exploded into splinters. If Yeongwon hadn’t grabbed him and dragged him out into the hallway, both of them would have been obliterated. Yeonseo turned toward the source of the sound, and froze.

“Th-that’s…”

“It’s the janitor. He was never human to begin with! He belongs to this school!”

He looked nothing like the janitor Yeonseo knew. If anything, the creature resembled the massive wish machine from the underground mechanical room.

The difference was that most of the students making up its body had their heads severed. The only intact form was the janitor’s body perched at the very top.

[Don’t go with them. Nothing will change.
They’ll all forget you. They’ll ignore the sins they committed against you. They’ll betray you to save themselves. I did too. Believe me, okay? Don’t go, don’t go…!]

Headless students twisted their limbs in impossible directions as they moved. Yeongwon grabbed Yeonseo and sprinted down the hallway.

“W-where are we going?!”

“To the auditorium, right now!”

“But the adviser said we shouldn’t go there, did he lie?!”

“No, what he said was true. Once we get there, the ritual ends whether we survive to the 14th day or not! But right now, the time has come to end it, so we have to get to the auditorium as fast as possible!”

* * *

Yeongwon shouted that and showed Yeonseo his Code of Conduct. Yeonseo jumped a little, wondering if it was even okay to show him that, but his shock only deepened when he saw the number written at the top.

[Day 14 Code of Conduct]

[1. The end of the ritual is approaching. You deceived us, yes, but let’s not bring that up now. For the first time in a very long time, you are the ones who have not fallen for our lies.]

[2. Please come to the auditorium. Everyone must be present. Whether living or dead.]

It was already the 14th day? Had he really been wandering inside that place for so long, or had something else been at work?

But the meaning of the message was clear. They would finally be able to achieve what they wanted.

[Don’t go. You left me to die, pushed me into death, why only now…!]

Even as they ran, a horrible scream chased them down the hallway. The voice felt like it was grabbing at Yeonseo’s ankles, whispering guilt, pressing despair he could never undo.

“…If I hadn’t said that, would you still be alive, Yeongwon?”

It slipped out of him like a trance. The letter that needed to reach him never did, and the words that never should have reached anyone found their way to him instead. Yeongwon had overheard someone else’s private conversation, fled in humiliation, and that night locked himself in his room.

“If you hadn’t been bullied because of me… would you still be alive?”

Yeongwon didn’t answer. He just kept running, his expression impossibly calm. The longer that silence stretched, the more Yeonseo feared he would never get an answer. At last he gathered the courage to ask his final question.

“If you had never met me… then would you…”

“Don’t say something so ridiculous!”

Yeongwon snapped, leaping down the stairs several steps at a time. Yeonseo stumbled repeatedly, nearly falling, but each time Yeongwon caught him, practically carrying him.

“Yes, it’s obvious you must have done something wrong. That’s why you’re spouting nonsense even after seeing what that thing really is!”

“But it’s true. I don’t remember anything, so…”

“And who told you I don’t remember anything?”

“Well… if you remembered properly, you wouldn’t speak so politely to me all the time…?”

For a second, Yeonseo thought Yeongwon might actually hit him, judging by the look he gave him, but in the end he only muttered irritably, “I swear, I should stop talking to you.”

“I am kind of curious what you think I’m like, but anyway. Forget that for now.”

“I’m sorry…”

“If you’re apologizing, that’s enough.”

“…What?”

“I said, if you apologize, that’s enough!”

A heavy thud echoed from the stairs above them. Without looking back, Yeongwon vaulted over the railing and dropped to the next floor. Yeonseo nearly toppled over, but Yeongwon caught him just in time.

[Is that… all it takes for you?]

But the massive creature stopped moving. Whether it had wedged itself into the wall after smashing half the stairwell or was pausing in some kind of grief, no one could tell.

Whatever its story was didn’t matter. One thing was certain, its realization came far too late, and the two of them had no choice but to keep going.

They sprinted straight down to the first-floor hallway. Their joined hands tightened, and Yeongwon continued speaking:

“I don’t know. I just… I wanted to talk to you more. I was stupid and weak and scared, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it!”

“……!”

“I haven’t remembered everything! I know there are still things I’ve forgotten, but I still wanted you by my side! I wanted to hear what you really wanted to say to me!”

Just hearing that made something inside Yeonseo surge painfully.

Even if everything else had gone wrong, there was one thing that matched perfectly. He had words he wanted to tell this person, and this person wanted to hear words from him.

That meant they could move forward. No matter how clumsy their mistakes, no matter how painful the days they repeated, if they could ever sit across from each other and speak face-to-face, they could move forward.

“Then… do you want to live, Yeongwon?”

Behind them, a monstrous scream tore through the air as the hallway began to collapse. The two of them ran straight ahead.

There was an open doorway in the distance. Light spilled from the inside. A sign above it read [Auditorium].

“Yes, I want to live! I want to tell you…!”

The man shouted, but the last part of his sentence dissolved into nothing. The instant they crossed the threshold, sound and light both vanished into the void beyond thought.

But sometimes you don’t need to hear something to know it.

Yeonseo closed his eyes and repeated the words silently.

[I want to tell you that I like you.]

Me too. Yeonseo mouthed the words.

He was certain that they had reached him. Unlike this man who had never said them aloud, Yeonseo had whispered those words every day since the moment he realized Yeongwon had been about to take his own life.

And if this ritual ended, he would say them again. I like you. I love you. Graduation passed long ago, but I want to say it to you every day. If only you come back alive.

The two of them collapsed, leaning against each other’s warmth as they lost consciousness.

The relief of an ending washed gently over their hearts.

In the middle of the cafeteria bathed in red moonlight, the school nurse listened blankly to the broadcast echoing above his head.

[Hello, we will now begin the morning broadcast. Today is Day 12. Or so the clock says.]

[Hello, we will now begin the evening broadcast. If you think you heard the morning broadcast just now, please assume you imagined it and forget it. If doing this helps us all survive.]

[Hello, we will now begin the morning broadcast. Today is Day 13….]

What on earth was happening in the broadcast room? Was this a despairing sign that the broadcasting adviser had lost his mind, or was it proof that some sliver of hope had appeared?

He had no idea. But either way, he had no means of responding. His arms and legs, and even his torso, had been overtaken by massive thorns and growths. There was not a single part of him he could still move.

He no longer needed to ask questions. Even so, the school nurse continued asking the students approaching him, one by one, whatever came to mind.

“Just sitting here is too frightening… so keep answering me. Hey, do you know if I did something wrong?”

“No!”

“Can you explain it to me?”

“…….”

They pointed toward the window. Was he supposed to look at that? As if entranced, the school nurse followed their gesture and looked at the thing outside.

He knew it gnawed at one’s sanity. But at the same time, the moment he looked at it, he felt countless forgotten memories surge back into his mind.

― I don’t really care about weird rumors like that. I don’t think it’s a problem who someone likes. And from what I can tell, that kid isn’t as bad as people say. He just had the misfortune of picking up some nasty rumors, at heart, he’s a kind and clever student.

― ……

― But isn’t this an important time for both you and him? It’ll be hard to handle each other right now. And there’s no reason it has to happen at this moment. Being impatient won’t solve anything.

― But, teacher.

― How about you talk again after the college entrance exam is over, after your plans for university are settled? Just think of this as cooling your head for a while. Okay? Right now he doesn’t seem to want to see you anyway, if you force it, things might only get worse.

― …Do you think that’s better?

The moment he recalled that absurd memory, the school nurse let out a hollow laugh. With his body swelling like a balloon and writhing in pain, laughter sounded almost like sobbing.

“I was wrong. I’m always like this. I think I’m using my head, but I never realize the things that actually matter.”

“…….”

“Why are you looking at me like that? I used to be a teacher, you know. Not a school nurse, but still. If they were going to make me some kind of teacher, couldn’t they at least have made me a Korean teacher? Why this job of all things?”

“…….”

“No… maybe I do get it. This must be punishment. A student was being bullied, and I only cared about smoothing over whatever was in front of me. They had a chance to get some air, to finally get help, and I told them to put it off until later. Maybe if I hadn’t made that mistake, the worst might have been avoided.”

He deserved punishment. He chuckled weakly as he looked up at the hideous sky. The students simply stared down at him in silence.

It was excruciating, but the school nurse didn’t mind. If one person could be saved by his suffering, he thought that was a fair trade. Dying after taking on someone else’s pain felt far more honorable and peaceful than ignoring others to protect himself.

But it seemed he was not meant to die here.

[Hello, we will now begin the morning broadcast. Today is Day 14….]

The moment the broadcast began, the cafeteria entrance erupted in noise.

“We’re not late yet! The evening broadcast didn’t play, so we’re not late! Can you carry him?”

“It’s doable. Let’s hurry. If possible, we should take the broadcasting adviser too.”

The school nurse realized he knew those voices. He had heard them shout like that long ago. He remembered bowing his head, saying I’m sorry over and over as they cried and screamed.

He had wounded them. Had he carried wounds equal to the ones he’d inflicted? Probably not. So he muttered blankly:

“I’m… sorry. I’m sorry for what I did to you….”

“So you do say things like that. I don’t know what’s going on, but enough of that, let’s get out of here.”

Hearing that baffled voice was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness.

Nothing had changed, of course. But at least it was better than doing nothing at all.