Chapter 53

[9. Hide, hide well. I can see your heels.]

Ha-min, gripping a baseball bat, and Han-su, armed with the hatchet, concealed themselves behind the infirmary door.

It didn't take long to understand what they were planning.

'Shh.'

At Han-su's gesture, Min-jun and Geon-su lost even the chance to ask.

Before long, Geon-su saw the shadow playing the role of the school nurse return.

Above the wooden sliding door was a glass pane set at head height.

RATTLE.

The moment the pitch-black shadow pushed the door open and stepped inside—

THWACK.

Han-su, hidden directly behind the door, swung straight at the back of its misshapen head.

A heavy impact rang out, like a sack of sludge being struck.

As the shadow crumpled flat against the floor, Ha-min's baseball bat came down after it, pounding it again and again.

Amid the wet thuds of something like a leather sack being beaten, Han-su raised the razor-edged hatchet once more.

"Ugh...."

A sickening sound followed, as though something inside were being shattered and crushed.

Min-jun covered his mouth, retching despite himself.

By then, the shadow had been reduced to pulp, spreading wetly across the floor.

"Done."

Han-su announced the end of it without ceremony and adjusted his grip on the hatchet.

Then, as though butchering a slab of meat, he hacked pieces off the shadow.

He carved away a whole handful from the thing, which writhed like slime as its form slowly dissolved.

Suppressing his disgust, Han-su forced several pieces into his inventory, then picked out one of a suitable size.

"Will this be enough?"

Carrying the chunk of shadow he had cut away, Han-su walked over to the dissected anatomical model.

He placed it over Ian's abdomen, which had been left open and exposed.

After trimming away the excess, the soft mass of shadow fit neatly into Ian's belly.

"......So. First, you put the thread through the needle....."

Unexpectedly, the next step was where they ran into trouble.

Everyone gathered there was male, and every one of them had lived a life almost entirely removed from sewing.

"This, uh... the stitches. Will they leave a scar once we get out?"

"......Probably."

Ha-min and Han-su stared gravely at the needle in their hands.

Min-jun immediately waved both hands and backed away.

With their lives at stake, the quality of the stitching should hardly have mattered.

But once they imagined what came afterward, it wasn't such a trivial matter after all.

He was only seventeen.

An age when more than half a century of life still lay ahead of him.

Being left with some bizarre scar whose shape he could never even explain was a surprisingly serious concern.

"I'll do it."

In the end, Geon-su, who had been watching from the side, stepped forward and took the needle from Han-su.

Having spent most of his life in a hospital room, doing whatever quiet handiwork he could to pass the time, Geon-su was fairly good at sewing.

He was cooperative.

He took initiative.

And he was doing everything he could to fulfill his role as a companion.

Even though they knew almost nothing about his background, there was nothing about him that made him seem unworthy of trust.

Han-su watched him for a moment before taking out the small tin case Su-myeon had given him.

Inside was the vivid red candy he'd obtained at Baekya Land.

The 'Prince's Tongue Tip'.

"Sh-should we give it to him?"

Ha-min swallowed hard as he looked at Han-su.

[Su-myeon: I'm not certain. Try it first, and contact me if it doesn't work.]

Han-su recalled Su-myeon's message and remained silent.

Anything not fixed by the rules ultimately came down to possibility.

And as far as he could judge, the odds were fifty-fifty.

Either it worked.

Or it didn't.

"...."

Carefully, Han-su pried open the stiff anatomical model's jaw and placed the candy on its rubbery tongue.

Then he counted silently.

One.

Two.

Three.

"Haaugh!"

The thing that had been nothing more than an anatomical model suddenly flushed with life and sucked in a huge breath.

The black shadow sewn into its abdomen was already slowly changing into the peach color of human skin.

"Ugh...! Aaagh!"

All they had done was cover the exposed organs.

The fact remained that living flesh had been cut away and replaced with something foreign.

Ian writhed in pain.

But even that was proof enough to give them hope.

Pain.

Breath.

Both were proof that he was alive.

"Park Ian!"

"Snap out of it!"

Ha-min and Min-jun rushed to his side and grabbed his hands.

"Why, why.... Why are you here.... Why...!"

Even drenched in cold sweat from the pain, Ian's first concern was for the two friends who had somehow ended up in this hellish place.

"Why do you think! We came to get you out!"

"I, ......I ended up here by accident, but.... Anyway! Does that matter right now?!"

Fortunately, he didn't seem to be feeling the full agony of having actual flesh cut away and sewn back together.

Considering the size and severity of the wound, it would have been perfectly natural for him to lose consciousness from shock all over again.

Even so, the fact that he'd partially regained his senses and could feel anything at all was good news.

Before long, he might even be able to move on his own.

"Don't spit that out. Let it dissolve completely."

"Ah, yes. Yes.... Th-thank you...."

Han-su warned Ian when the boy frowned and began mumbling after noticing the foreign object in his mouth.

For someone who played sports, Ian seemed surprisingly sensitive and quick to pick up on things.

"Think you can move?"

"......Yes, for now.... If I could just get some clothes."

Ian, who had been transformed into an anatomical model, was still naked beneath the infirmary blanket wrapped around him.

While the others searched the infirmary for anything a high school student could wear and explained the situation to him, Han-su picked up his Heartphone.

[The student Park Ian has come to his senses as well.]

[What would be best to do?]

Find the key.

Then head to the rooftop.

That remained the highest priority.

But Su-myeon's game of hide-and-seek with Peter Pan had not ended yet.

For now, the people gathered here weren't targets of that game, so there was a good chance they were exempt from it.

That was as much of the situation as Han-su could understand.

He had no idea what would happen next.

Fortunately, Su-myeon's reply came quickly.

[Su-myeon: I'll have the key soon.]

[Su-myeon: Have you seen Peter Pan?]

There were still around ten minutes left in the hide-and-seek.

Han-su was about to reply that he hadn't seen him when an unfamiliar sound came from outside.

"Hide, hide well... I might see your hair."

A faint murmur.

So quiet it was almost a whisper.

Ian, who had only just managed to pull on the gym clothes Ha-min had found, collapsed straight to the floor.

"H-he's watching. He's watching. He's watching all of us...!"

"What? What are you talking about!"

"Hey! Calm down!"

Ha-min and Min-jun tried to haul him back to his feet, but Ian was already panicking.

And then Han-su, watching them, caught sight of someone passing beyond the glass window overlooking the hallway.

Black hair sticking upward.

The crown of a head.

Slowly approaching the front door.

Geon-su appeared to have seen it as well.

With terror written across his face, he pressed himself close behind Han-su.

"Is it in here...?"

The face appearing in the glass panel of the front door could no longer be called a face at all.

Its entire front had split apart in five directions.

Through the gaps, jaw joints and eyeballs sagged and spilled downward.

CLICK—

It tried the door.

But the infirmary door was locked and merely rattled in its frame.

"I... I locked it.... Just in case...."

Apparently, Geon-su had secured it while they were beating down the infirmary's shadow.

Han-su didn't even have time to praise him before sending Su-myeon a message.

[It's in front of the infirmary right now.]

CLICK, CLICK.

The monster tried the handle again and again.

Ian had already curled completely into himself, trembling uncontrollably.

At any moment, it felt as though the thing outside might wrench the door apart and force its way in.

"........"

In the silence, Han-su's Heartphone chimed again.

[Su-myeon: Is it dangerous?]

Han-su answered immediately.

[Yes]

The latch kept clicking without pause as the sliding door was pulled against the lock.

The monster wasn't rushing.

It tugged at the door leisurely, almost lazily.

As though savoring the fear and tension on the other side.

CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK

The lock wouldn't hold much longer.

Han-su felt Geon-su's hand clutching the back of his clothes.

He could see Ha-min, Ian, and Min-jun huddled together, clinging to one another.

All Han-su had was a single hatchet.

He had to protect them.

No matter what.

Just as he steeled himself and tightened his grip—

[Su-myeon: I'll draw its attention.]

...What?

Before Han-su could respond, a tremendous explosion erupted somewhere inside the building.

It sounded close.

One side of the hallway suddenly flared red with fire.

The monster that had been leisurely rattling the infirmary door snapped its head toward the blast.

[Su-myeon: Please keep the students somewhere safe.]

***

"Ah, hot, hot! Be a little more careful!"

Su-myeon, who had just sent the message to Han-su, rubbed at his scorched cheek.

The Teacher merely shrugged, an oil-filled lantern in hand.

"Aiming with one hand isn't as easy as you'd think."

9. Combat Rules Against Peter Pan[Caution: These rules are to be used only in an all-out engagement in which Peter Pan's hostility is at its peak]

   9-1) Peter Pan's weaknesses

   a) Reducing the number of shadows

   : The shadows are Peter Pan's other selves, but they also serve as his eyes and ears.

   There is no harm in reducing their number, but doing so turns the relationship hostile from that point onward, so caution is required.

   b) Light

   : Shadows are weak to light.

   Regardless of the method used, exposing them to strong light effectively weakens them.

   c) Destruction of school property

   : The Infinite Campus itself is the symbol of Peter Pan's power.

   Therefore, destroying school property can also serve as an effective attack against Peter Pan.

   This too immediately turns the relationship with Peter Pan hostile, so caution is required.

   Recalling the safety rules he'd written down, Su-myeon looked along the first-floor hallway, which was already burning.

   Unfortunately, everything the Teacher had told him was information Su-myeon already knew.

   But that, in turn, confirmed one thing.

   The Teacher was telling him nothing but the truth.

   And he was doing it to save the children.

   "I'll do it."

   Hwi-yeon took one of the lanterns from the Teacher and threw it inside in his place.

   The lantern sailed in a clean arc across the hallway, passed through the window of the art room on the opposite side, and shattered.

   Glass broke.

   Oil spread.

   Fire caught.

   An explosion erupted almost instantly.

   Alongside bizarre shrieks came the sounds of Tinker Bells and Shadow Teachers scrambling away from the flames.

   "...There's no going back now."

   Su-myeon nodded at the Teacher's final warning and stepped toward the school.

   Getting cut by broken glass on the way inside was an unnecessary complication he had no intention of accepting.

   He carefully cleared the shards from the window frame while listening to the noises around him.

   "........"

   Among the glass fragments, Su-myeon spotted a Rose Coin.

   He picked it up, stored it separately, then vaulted through the window.

   The school hallway he'd returned to was burning so violently that it looked as though it had been hit by a terrorist attack.

   Setting fire to the school wasn't merely about destroying property.

   'Shadows are weak to light.'

   The larger the flames grew, the stronger the light became.

   And the stronger the light, the harder it would be for the shadows to approach.

   Peter Pan would almost certainly come charging in to stop the school from being destroyed.

   That part, Su-myeon would have to deal with himself.

   "......Are you really going to be all right?"

   Only now did the Teacher seem to feel guilty about making such an unreasonable request.

   Especially since he himself had to withdraw on the grounds that he couldn't enter the school.

   For an ordinary person, feeling deeply apologetic in a situation like this would be natural.

   Of course, the Teacher was a figure from within a story, so whether he could truly be defined as a person was another matter entirely.

   Su-myeon turned away, pulling the gun from his inventory.

   He shrugged.

   "We'll find out by trying."

   THUD! THUD THUD THUD!

   As though answering his words, heavy footsteps thundered from the far end of the hallway.

   Peter Pan.

   He was charging toward them from the infirmary at the opposite end.

   His body had taken on the form of a grotesque monster, split wide open from his face all the way down to his solar plexus.

   Apparently, he'd finished pretending to be a model student.

   "Wouldn't it be better... if I did the shooting?"

   As a former trained agent, Hwi-yeon looked somewhat uneasy at the sight of Su-myeon holding the gun.

   But when it came to the one firearm he was familiar with, Su-myeon was confident.

   Instead of answering, he raised the weapon and settled into his stance.

   BANG! BANG BANG BANG BANG!

   The first shot gave him the feel he needed.

   Then Su-myeon pulled the trigger again and again at the charging monster.

   Every bullet struck its face.

   One of the monster's dangling eyeballs burst apart and spilled downward.

   Perfect marksmanship.

   "Kraaaah!"

   With a shriek that might have been pain or rage, its palm split open.

   A vicious tentacle erupted from inside.

   The tentacle shot forward and punched straight through the door of the adjacent classroom.

   Two students who had been hiding inside the weight room were seized by the overpowering appendage and dragged out.

   The monster immediately hoisted them up like shields.

   The moment Hwi-yeon saw that, her expression changed.

   "Either way, we just have to kill it, right?"

   In her hand was a whip tipped with a hook.

   A vicious-looking weapon the Teacher had given her because she'd had none of her own.

   "It'd be best if you could kill it without hitting those students, but that won't be easy, will it?"

   Su-myeon meant the words sincerely.

   To Hwi-yeon, however, they sounded like a challenge.

   As if he were asking whether she couldn't even manage that much.

   Without answering, Hwi-yeon tightened her grip on the whip and stepped forward.