Ersak slowly rose from his seat.
He stepped away from his desk and began climbing the stairs of the lecture hall.
“ERSAK!” Enmie suddenly screamed.
Drenched in sweat, her eyes locked onto the boy.
His heavy footsteps echoed clearly through the tense, quiet room.
The other students shrank back into their desks to get away from the aisle.
Ersak marched step by step up the tiered seating, closing the distance toward the blonde male student.
Leaning forward over his desk, the boy taunted him with a provocative smirk, “What’re you gonna do?
Your hands itching to kill again?” Ersak stayed dead silent, his face completely masked by his hanging hair as he drew closer and closer.
His hands clenched into tight fists, the knuckles cracking under the immense strain as the skin stretched white.
The blonde student flinched, his arrogant expression twisting into panic.
Breaking out in a cold sweat, he cowered back into his desk, trying desperately to distance himself from the approaching teenager.
The student sitting next to him tensely shoved the blonde guy away out of fear.
A sudden shift in Ersak’s hair exposed a flash of his sharp, freezing glare.
Blood vessels bulged rapidly across his wide-open eyes, his constricted pupils vibrating without stop.
The world went dark as a single thread dropped from midair and suddenly SNAPPED taut.
Through the dividing line of the split thread, two pairs of eyes flashed into view.
Enmie and Hawen materialized, both breaking out in a cold sweat.
Without a single word, Enmie dashed up the lecture hall steps with explosive speed.
Meanwhile, outside the academy on a vast field of lush green grass, Hawen stood frozen.
His eyes were wide, his pupils shrinking and trembling violently.
Lusia stood right beside him, stretching her arms as she glanced over.
Looking at Hawen in total confusion, she asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with you?
You’re acting weird.” Hawen bolted to his feet and sprinted toward the school building, the wind blowing his hair back.
“T-This is bad!…” he stammered, sweat pouring down his face.
Back inside, Ersak stood directly over the male student.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the room.
Enmie’s figure blurred behind Ersak so quickly that time itself seemed to slow down.
Her hand reached out, grabbing his collar and violently yanking him backward.
Ersak crashed heavily into the chair behind him, the wooden desk shaking from the hard impact.
Breathing heavily, Enmie glared down at the boy as he slowly sat up.
“Do you have any idea what the hell you’re doing?!” she roared.
Down at the front, Etyna raised her hand, and slender streaks of deep blue light snaked around the male student, hoisting him out of his desk and setting him down far away from Ersak.
Enmie parted her lips, ready to scream at the teenager, but Ersak suddenly cut her off, roaring, “WHAT DID I EVEN DO?!” Enmie froze on the spot, utterly stunned.
Ersak dropped his head, his hair hanging loosely as his fists clenched with white-knuckle intensity.
“If you were the one in that position…” His gaze snapped up to lock onto Enmie.
“…would you hesitate to slaughter every single person trying to take your life?!” He slammed his hand down on the wooden desk and stood up, stepping directly into Enmie’s space.
“Is defending my own life a crime now?!” Ersak whipped his head around, his furious eyes sweeping across the lecture hall.
“All of you only care when I strike back!
Why do you completely ignore the reason I had to do it?!” His voice boomed through the hall, echoing down to the front before slowly fading away.
Stunned glances locked onto the teenager.
The blonde-haired student sat slumped in his chair, staring up at Ersak in pure terror.
T-This guy…
he thought.
The entire classroom fell dead silent, the atmosphere completely frozen without a single word uttered.
Ersak lowered his head slightly and began walking down the steps.
His heavy footsteps echoed through the silence, matching the rhythmic thudding of a panicked heartbeat.
BANG!
The classroom doors flew wide open.
The female students in the front row flinched and gasped, breaking the tense silence as the steady thud of footsteps continued down the aisle.
Hawen rushed inside, his frantic gaze scanning upward until he found Ersak, whose face was half-hidden by his hair.
Hawen let out heavy, ragged breaths.
Etyna took a few steps toward Ersak, her expression filled with worry as she reached out an arm to stop him.
Ersak brushed right past her.
Etyna tracked him with her outstretched hand, but the boy kept marching forward without a word.
She watched him go, her face tight with concern.
Regaining his composure, Hawen watched Ersak pass by.
He turned to follow, calling out, “Hey!
What just happened up there?
Hey!” Hawen trailed closely behind as the doors clicked shut.
Etyna stared blankly toward the exit.
Enmie approached her side, drawing Etyna’s gaze.
Letting out a soft sigh, Enmie leaned forward slightly.
“I’m sorry for disrupting your lesson…” Etyna waved her hands hesitantly.
“N-No, it’s fine, but…” Enmie stood up straight and began walking away, calling back over her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it.
I’ll have a talk with him.” Etyna watched Enmie’s retreating figure, offering nothing more than a quiet, “Right…” Etyna’s voice rang out alongside the rhythmic clapping of her hands.
“Everyone, please return to your seats.” She walked back toward the podium.
“Let’s begin our lesson.” The door swung open, and Enmie’s leather boots stepped out into the hallway, moving off to one side as the door clicked shut behind her.
“HEY!
Stand right there!” Hawen’s voice echoed down the long corridor from behind Ersak.
The teenager’s footsteps stopped, and Hawen sprinted up from behind.
Stepping directly in front of Ersak, Hawen roared, “What the hell did you just do?!” Ersak looked at Hawen without uttering a single word.
Hawen stared back, then reached out with both hands, grabbing Ersak’s shoulders and shaking him violently.
“Do you even realize you’re a prisoner of war right now?!” Hawen dropped his hands, releasing the boy’s shoulders.
He turned on his heel and began walking away.
“You’re damn lucky just to be alive right now!
Stop doing such stupid things.” Ersak trailed behind Hawen.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Hawen continued talking as he walked, “Seriously, please.
Just get out to the clearing now.
We’re starting your first training session, got it?” Hawen glanced back over his shoulder while continuing forward.
The expression on Ersak’s face left him completely speechless.
The boy’s eyes were stretched wide, his pupils dilated and completely hollow.
Hawen turned back around without a word, continuing forward in dead silence.
Inside Ersak’s mind, those wide, trembling pupils flickered against the dark void from earlier.
The phantom voice of his mother echoed erratically through his head.
I truly regret giving birth to you…
A sudden flash.
If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have died…
The image of the blonde-haired woman fractured into static, a sharp television buzz ringing out before everything cut to black.
A deep, bottomless abyss materialized.
Ersak stood over a dark pool of water in a pitch-black space, stripped of all sound.
The atmosphere was so freezing cold that his gasps formed misty plumes of vapor in the air.
His voice drifted into the quiet void.
“Mom…
you definitely wouldn’t say that…
you…
you wouldn’t say that, right?…”