Surviving Every Worldview - C39

Chapter 39: There is a title with the same name (2)

Back inside the academy, we checked out the building map, which is visible right from the lobby.

It was just one of many buildings, but it included important facilities like the bridge leading to the dormitories and the infirmary.

It doesn’t look like the main building, though.

“It’s not that different from our university.”

“Yeah. It’s probably more like a campus in the grand scheme of things, though since it’s a fantasy, it’s many times larger, and there’s probably some settings we don’t recognize.”

After confirming that most of the facilities above ground were classrooms, I lowered my gaze.

The basement was just as crowded as the main building.

The first floor was the dining hall, the second floor was the training center, and the third floor was labs and storage.

The fourth and fifth floors were labeled off-limits to all but faculty and staff.

“Wow, Sis, look at this. The fourth and fifth floors are too obviously suspicious.”

“If you’re curious, go. I think you’re right.”

“Uh… isn’t it too soon? We just got in.”

“…… Isn’t it?”

It’s off-limits anyway.

If we approach this place, Lee Min-seo hype will come true.

Maybe even with the professors chasing us instead of the students.

“Also… I don’t remember seeing a button for the fourth or fifth floor on the elevator, so I don’t think it’s a normal floor.”

“Do you think there’s some kind of employee-only passageway?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

It’s so well hidden that I’m actually looking forward to going there.

Maybe not right away, but someday I’ll figure out how to get there.

For the ‘plot’ to be in my hands this time as well, I need to uncover all the truths of this place, no matter what it takes.

So where should I start looking for now?

As I reached into my pocket, I felt something strange in my hand.

It was an unfamiliar-looking plastic card.

“What is that?”

“It looks like a card key…It’s numbered A101. What is it?”

She thought for a moment before answering.

“Isn’t it a dorm key? It looks like it says room number.”

“Uh, is it? I think so.”

“But why is the key coming out of your pocket?”

“Well, it could be. We got a uniform as soon as we got in.”

Seorin looked at the card key with reluctance.

Like school uniforms, she seemed to be wary of things that came out of nowhere.

“Huh?”

There was a card key in her pocket as well.

She was irritated, but she held it out and showed me the number.

“I have one of my own… but it must be in a different building. It says B102.”

“Why don’t we go to both? It’s lunchtime, everyone’s in the cafeteria so we won’t be disturbed, and there’s nowhere else to go.”

“Whatever.”

I checked the location of the hallway leading to the dormitory on the map.

The entrance to the Aquila Hall on the end of the third floor must be the dormitory.

-Chirp. Click.

On the way up, I heard the sound of my sister opening a can.

When I turned around, I saw her holding a drink in one hand and chocolate in the other.

She had awakened the story with a game, so she should have been able to put it in her [inventory], but…….

“……Suddenly?”

“… Since I don’t know when we’ll have to fight, I’m creating a state where I can activate the traits in advance.”

“….Yeah.”

“Want some?”

She offered me her drink, asking if I wanted one.

I waved it off and walked down the hallway and into the dormitory building.

Just like in real life, there weren’t many students passing by at this time of night.

Thank goodness.

I wouldn’t be seen by my drinking sister.

“Am I at the right place?”

So far, the building didn’t look much different from a modern university building.

The basement and cafeteria were unusually large, but it was still clear that it was a school cafeteria.

My first impression of Aquila Hall, on the other hand…was that it didn’t look like a dormitory at all.

Rather, it felt more like an unmanned store or factory than a dormitory.

The lobby is lined with dozens of screen doors, each with a different design.

It almost looked like a subway.

“Why is the dormitory like this?”

The design of the screen doors was also different.

Each door had Roman numerals on top, and there were 26 doors in total.

…These are all the entrances to the dorms?

“You’re watching, right, sis?”

“Yes. I’m just not talking.”

Too scared to speak, she took a long gulp of her beer and approached one of the screen doors.

Standing in front of the ‘B’ screen door, she pulled out her card key and held it up to the reader.

Beep!

The card was recognized and the scene beyond the screen doors moved.

Spaces and scenes flashed by, like a subway car passing in front of me.

[B101. Please enter.]

The changes in the aisle stopped.

I look back through the screen door and see the dormitory hallway as we had imagined it.

It felt more like a portal had opened, rather than the hallway moving like a real subway.

“Oh, there we go.”

“Room B101, Aquila Hall… The name is so old-fashioned, but the division is so modern. What the hell.”

“Let’s go in, Seon-woo.”

She crumpled up her finished can of beer and tossed it into her inventory, then walked through the screen door and inside.

I started to follow her in, but…….

[Do not enter another student’s residence hall without permission.]

[Please note that from 9am to 11pm, only students who request it are allowed to enter another student’s dormitory.]

The recognition device beeped and displayed a holographic warning.

I tried to ignore it, but the hologram stood in my way as if it were real.

“It seems like only I can enter if you don’t make a separate request.”

“Should I make a request? Or should I just look around on my own?”

“That’s a little unnerving.”

Would they let a guy into the girls’ dorm if he asked in the first place?

No way.

So I have to sneak in here somehow.

I take a few steps back, and the hologram disappears.

When I try to go back, it reappears, and when I step back again, it disappears.

So what if it doesn’t see me?

[Your story begins.]

Activating the story, I lowered my footsteps and walked back toward the screen door.

I knew from experience that the Academy’s surveillance and CCTV could catch anyone who triggered a story.

But I’ve been through a lot, and my story is strong enough.

By simply paying attention, the security devices were easily tricked into not displaying the hologram.

A mere Episode 2-level recognition device can’t find me.

“Speaking of this security device, wouldn’t it be nice to have one in our reality?”

“Then rip it off. I thought you said this stuff stays after the episode.”

“Next time. We don’t have to rip it off now.”

“…… I was kidding.”

Seorin gave me a strange look and headed to room B102.

“I’ll open the door.”

Tiri-ri-.

I swiped my card on the front door lock of room 102 and it unlocked.

I grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open, revealing a cozy room.

I expected it to be big because it’s a dormitory, so there would be a lot of people living together, but to my surprise, the other furniture was set up for a single person.

“This is bigger than my dorm in high school! It’s a single room!”

“Are they really treating us like we’re students? Our uniforms are the same, our dorm keys are the same.”

“Is that normal? It’s awkward since we don’t fight.”

“…I don’t know.”

I couldn’t answer Seorin’s questions.

There are cases where the worldview that invades through episodes does not immediately become hostile.

They usually end up confronting each other, but when the [Fairy Tale] world invaded in Dreams Game, it was peaceful at first, just like now.

But this time, it’s a completely new world.

I didn’t understand why they were making us, the targets of the invasion, into students at the Academy.

We’re even treated like regular students with dormitories?

Are we being invaded?

Surely we’re supposed to survive?

“We’ll fight back eventually, but… I don’t understand the point of being treated like this.”

“Are they trying to catch us off guard?”

“Maybe, but I’m sure it’s not the only reason.”

There are other ways to reassure us.

But right now, they’re treating people who’ve been dragged into the Academy as if they’ve been students from the beginning.

It’s a way of keeping us off guard, but it’s also a way of trying to get at us.

There must be an agenda, but it’s hard to see what it is.

I had a feeling that the ‘development’ of this episode might be about someone uncovering the truth behind that attitude.

“Uh, here’s my student ID.”

“Student ID? Where?”

Seorin showed me her student ID card, which was lying on her small desk.

Lee Seorin. First year.

The card, which contained minimal information, had a photo of her in her school uniform.

A photo that couldn’t possibly have been taken, with her smiling in her Academy uniform.

“I’m not surprised anymore. If I go to room A101, I’ll find my student ID.”

“…….”

“Sister?”

Seorin stared at the picture on her student ID card.

I wondered if she was shocked to see a photo she had never taken in her life.

She’s always been wary of this space and the way she’s dressed.

“What’s wrong, the photo?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t let it bother you too much. I know it’s creepy, but it’s not like there’s anything you can do about it.”

“The picture wasn’t taken well.”

“It’s …….Oh, yeah.”

That bothered her more than the others.

I guess it’s better to not think about it.

Seorin grabbed her student IDs, we walked out of room B102 and headed to room A101.

Seorin would open the door with my card key, and I would sneak past.

As expected, my room also had a student ID with my information and photo.

“I’m in first grade, just like you. I guess they don’t separate by age here.”

“So we’re classmates now, can we talk casually?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Sorry.”

There was no significant difference in the room layout.

A and B were simply gender-specific, with different furniture and necessities placed in each room.

The odd-numbered wings, such as A, C, and E, were for men, while the even-numbered wings, such as B, D, and F, were for women.

It was an unusual structure, but I felt like I was slowly getting used to the dormitory.

“…drunk.”

“Really? Then take a break and go back to…….”

Bam!

Just then, I heard the sound of my card key being recognized through the open dorm door.

I stepped out into the hallway, and another person in a school uniform opened the screen door and walked in.

“Ugh.”

I made eye contact with the man who had just entered the hallway.

He looked wordlessly surprised, adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses, and quickly brushed past me.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes, yes!!!”

The man looked back at me warily as if he hadn’t expected anyone to be here.

He didn’t look like the ‘normal Academy student’ I’ve seen in the basement cafeteria earlier.

“Were you also sent here by the school?”

“Uh, so you’re also from……?”

“Yep. I’m here to resolve the episode.”

Seeing us having a casual conversation, Seorin peeked out from her dorm room.

“Do you want to come in and talk……?”

The first person I encountered since entering the academy, is neither an ‘acquaintance’ nor an ‘episode enemy’, but an ordinary stranger.

To get a better feel for the dorm, I had the man open his dorm room door and we went in together.