DNLYHS Chapter 7

7. Seventh Day

Yeonseo had a very strange dream.

It was a dream in which he was walking down the hallway of a school he had never seen before, along with several other people.

[Before we begin, I will explain the things you need to know in advance.]

The person walking at the front was holding something that looked like an old, worn-out camping lantern. They were clearly raising their voice and giving explanations to everyone, yet Yeonseo couldn’t grasp any information about them. Whether the person was male or female, how old they might be, everything that could be guessed from their voice entered one ear and left the other.

[This ritual is performed by six participants, and it is the XX X XX XXX ritual. The name of the ritual is XX, but whatever the name is, it probably doesn’t matter to you. You’ll forget it anyway.]

He wanted to at least focus on what the person was saying, but even that was difficult. He barely managed to understand that the talk was related to some kind of ritual, but the name and the details didn’t stick in his mind at all.

Maybe the janitor had been wandering around in this blurry state the whole time. He must have been really frustrated… While Yeonseo thought that, the explanation continued.

[You may be curious about where this school is located, but that is not important. What matters in all rituals is the form, not the place. If the form is established, the place will follow. The passageway that connects XX and XX exists everywhere.]

[This is a ritual of deception. In order to succeed, the truth must be obscured. You are trying to make the impossible possible, so from beginning to end it must be grounded entirely in falsehoods.]

[First, we deceive night and day. The current time is 8:27 p.m., correct? It doesn’t feel like it? You doubt it’s the real time? Regardless of the truth, let’s just say it is for now. Anyway, the end-of-day period begins in three minutes. In old schools, a day was long. Just remember that the end-of-day time is six in the morning.]

[So it is best to paint over the windows or cover them with black paper in advance. It is one of the many tricks used to maintain the ritual. This trick is flimsy and may come undone at times, and when it does, the moon will be watching, so be careful. It can be dangerous.]

Even if he could follow the explanation, understanding it seemed like a completely different matter. The speaker was explaining seriously, yet Yeonseo couldn’t grasp the meaning at all. What on earth was this person talking about?

The others walking with him tilted their heads as if confused as well. Though he could see them clearly, he couldn’t tell whether they were men or women, large or small, not even roughly.

But there was one thing he was certain of. Including himself, there were six people in this hallway.

The one holding the camping lantern, for now, calling them a “person” was technically correct, but they didn’t feel like a real human being. They were something else. Something that appears briefly to guide everyone, then vanishes. Something less than even a ghost.

[The starting location is the auditorium in the annex. On the map laid out on the floor, each of you will place a token that represents yourselves. But tokens must not be placed in the hallways, classrooms, or grade-level offices. Recommended places include the cafeteria, the broadcast room, the infirmary, the library, the dorm room… places like that. Once you see the map, you will probably know by instinct where to place yours.]

[Ah, and by the way, there are seven tokens. Why seven when there are only six people? That is another important deception. You make it look like seven people are participating, even though there are only six. Once reality falls for that lie, a seventh person who does not exist steps into the ritual, and only then can the ritual begin.]

He blinked, and before he knew it, they had arrived in a large space. It must have been the auditorium.

Looking at the enormous map spread across the floor, Yeonseo felt dizzy. The map felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Perhaps because it included both the main building and the annex.

[The seventh one is an outsider. It was never part of this world to begin with. So once the ritual ends, you must send it back. But it won’t be easy. In this ritual, the ones being deceived are not only them, but you as well.]

[As the ritual progresses, things will become unclear. Who you are, where you are, and even what goal brought you here, you will forget all of it. You will be given basic Codes of Conduct, but contamination will interfere along the way. If you deceive them, they will deceive you. That is only fair.]

[But do not misunderstand. They have no malice. They know nothing of good or evil, and they carry no intent or grudges. They simply want to eat.]

[If the ritual fails completely, you will not escape. You will all become Yeongwon.]

He felt like he had just heard something incredibly important. Staring blankly at the map on the floor, Yeonseo thought.

His place was already decided. The library. He instinctively knew it was the most dangerous place, but there was nothing he could do.

[It is all right. Until you succeed, you can repeat it over and over. For those repetitions, one person must become the observer. That person continues forward by stacking records within the decaying time caused by each repetition. Of course, the observer will not even realize that they are progressing, and within each individual attempt, they will remain endlessly incompetent.]

[Ah, and someone must take on the role of sacrificing their sense of self for the sake of securing the wish. It is not absolutely required, but it greatly improves the odds of success.]

He sat at the area labeled Library and waited for the others to take their places. He thought he might as well try to check where everyone else was sitting, but before he could, someone firmly pushed his head down, as if to say that checking others’ positions was cheating.

So there was no helping it. Yeonseo quietly closed his eyes. His head spun, and the whole world seemed to recede into a far-off haze.

[Since the ritual is halfway through, it is time for a brief ventilation.]

A voice spoke to him from beyond the distant world.

[Today, you may choose one of two pieces of information to recall.]

[First, what your wish originally was. Second, which person among those present in this school has already died.]

Choose one of the two.

The voice was mechanical but carried a faint sense of expectation. It left Yeonseo confused. But regardless of that confusion, his choice was already decided.

I… I…

* * *

“…Hah!”

Yeonseo woke up drenched in cold sweat. The dream he had just seen, and the choice he made within it, came back to him with perfect clarity.

I came to this school to bring back the most precious person in the world to me.

It might be a foolish wish. It might go against his earlier words that no wish was worth harming someone. But at the moment of choice, unbearable curiosity rose within him, impossible to shake off.

The moment he chose, a piercing ache of longing filled his heart. Only then did he become aware of the person he wanted to find, someone he would give his life to recover.

…That was the wish I came here for.

How could he have forgotten something so important? Yeonseo knew with certainty that he had made the right choice. To live, endure, and make decisions while forgetting that wish, that made no sense. His purpose for coming here was clear. So…

“Yeonseo? Are you awake?”

Someone shook him roughly as he floated in his thoughts. Who…? He shrank back irritably, still dazed, then flinched in surprise.

“…Yeongwon?”

When he opened his eyes, something immediately felt wrong. He and Yeongwon had fallen asleep in the gym storage room, so why was he now curled up on the torn mattress in the cafeteria?

And he wasn’t alone. The janitor, the school nurse, and even the cook were all lying here. It was so cramped it felt suffocating. Startled, Yeonseo shot upright. Yeongwon loomed over him with a terrified expression, as if he might cry any moment.

“Thank goodness, you finally woke up…!”

“Why are we here? What happened…?”

“What happened to you? Why did none of you wake up? You all just slept the entire day! And there wasn’t even a morning broadcast or an end-of-day broadcast today…!”

They had all been asleep the whole day? Not just him, but everyone?

It seemed Yeongwon had realized something was wrong, panicked, and gone around to gather everyone from their hideouts. Whatever had happened, he must have been frightened that someone might get hurt.

“There was some food the cook left prepared, so I fed you all a bit. I thought it would be dangerous if you stayed like that without eating. But are you really okay? Nothing hurts?”

“Thank you. Um, I’m not hurt anywhere, but… I had a strange dream.”

“A dream?”

“Yes. In the dream, I heard some strange explanation and made a choice… Did you not dream, Yeongwon?”

Just as Yeongwon was about to answer, the people lying on the mattresses began to groan and slowly get up one by one. They all looked hazy, contemplative, and shaken.

“I… I…”

“……”

Some looked on the verge of tears, and others looked pale with shock. Seeing this, Yeonseo instinctively realized the truth. They had all made a choice, one way or the other. Maybe they had even dreamed exactly the same dream as he did.

Only Yeongwon tilted his head in confusion as he watched them.

“Hey, you. Your name was Yeongwon, right?”

At that moment, the cook, who had recovered first, suddenly spoke to him. Yeongwon turned toward him, puzzled.

The cook, despite being the one who called him over, hesitated for a long time as if unsure how to begin, then finally said:

“Come here for a moment.”

He abruptly stood up, pulled Yeongwon aside, whispered something to him, and then returned.

“Cook? What did you say to Yeongwon?”

“Nothing. Anyway, you. Which choice did you make?”

“Oh, my wish…? I… I think I wanted to save someone precious to me.”

“I see. A predictable, ordinary wish.”

“And you, Cook?”

“Don’t ask. I have no obligation to tell you.”

He probably chose the wish too. But making the other person answer while refusing to say anything himself… isn’t that a bit unfair?

Just as Yeonseo was getting quietly annoyed, the cafeteria speakers crackled, and a familiar voice came out.

[…Since everyone has made their choice, Day Seven has ended.]

The broadcasting adviser’s voice sounded unusually exhausted. Or maybe he had been crying. The sound of his breathing was damp enough to make the possibility believable.

[I know you’re all confused since you just woke up, but this is not the morning broadcast. This is the end-of-day broadcast. Please return to your hideouts. Today’s tasks are skipped. Once again: while you were asleep, the seventh day passed, and you must now return to your hideouts. As for your emotions… sort them out on your own.]

The people gathered in the cafeteria murmured at the strange announcement, then slowly stood up. It seemed they all understood what the broadcasting adviser meant, even though his explanation was terribly lacking.

“…Let’s go back, Yeonseo.”

With a somewhat subdued expression, Yeongwon gestured for him to follow. Ever since his conversation with the cook, something about Yeongwon’s expression had changed. Yeonseo couldn’t tell what they’d talked about, but he looked both serious and… frightened.

Frightened? Why?

Confused, Yeonseo still took his hand and left the cafeteria with him.

At a glance, it looked like the day had ended as soon as it began, almost anticlimactically. But even so, he understood.

They had all made an incredibly important choice today, and the information gained from that choice would drastically change their path forward.

* * *

[…Pray that the others all choose the wish. I picked the opposite, since I don’t believe any wish is worth going through something this absurd.]

[What? What are you talking about?]

[Say you dreamed. Say you chose your wish. And say anything beyond that is personal and none of their business. They’ll accept it.]

[A dream? What kind of dream did everyone have? Why was I the only one who didn’t…?]

[When the last day comes, you’ll understand. I owe you my life, so I’ll only tell you once. Remember it.]

While walking back to the gym storage room, Yeongwon kept replaying the cook’s words in his mind.

Meanwhile, Yeonseo kept sneaking glances at Yeongwon’s face, but Yeongwon couldn’t bring himself to look back at him. The image of Yeonseo’s expression when he first woke up, an expression he couldn’t understand, one that looked like he was about to cry, wouldn’t leave his mind.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

That certainty was the only thing filling Yeongwon’s heart.