"Huff… Huff… Huff…"
Jin-woo suddenly sat up from the ground, his face full of sweat.
"Jin, are you okay?"
Seong, who was sitting next to Jin-woo, asked. His worry was even more evident than yesterday when Jin-woo had also jumped out of his sleep.
Jin-woo sighed from exhaustion and wiped the sweat from his face with his jacket sleeves before responding.
"It's not a night terror, it's that weird dream again."
"What kind of dream?"
"It's… I don't even know how to describe it. It's like I'm in soul form floating through the universe towards sothing."
Seong thought for a mont before he asked.
"It's not a coincidence this dream started just as your abilities are beginning to manifest. It could be sothing like a vision, or it may even be real."
"Hm, I think it could be those too, but the experience was too unbelievable to be real. Can my soul honestly travel outside of my body when I'm sleeping?"
"Well, that's easy to find out. Did you see anything in your dream that might confirm if it was real?"
Jin-woo sat there and thought about his two dreams for a while before a scene from his first dream ca to mind. He imdiately perked up and turned to Seong to say.
"During my first dream, before I was dragged into outer space, I saw you getting up and walking over to Seo-joon's side to watch him sleep. Did you really do that?"
Upon hearing that, Seong was taken aback. But as if caught doing sothing he shouldn't have, he showed an embarrassed expression and said begrudgingly.
"You weren't supposed to see that."
Jin-woo would have laughed at Seong's reaction if only it didn't confirm that he was indeed having an out-of-body experience when he slept.
"Seong, I'm slightly scared now. While I was in that state, sothing was pulling my soul away from my body, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. No, rather, I didn't even try to resist. I wanted to leave. The only reason why I didn't was because the distance was too far, and I suddenly woke up."
Jin-woo looked at Seong, and Seong upon seeing Jin-woo's slightly frightful expression had his heart figuratively sink. He imdiately hurried to comfort him.
But before Seong could, Jin-woo's G-shock watch let out a beeping alarm.
Jin-woo went to turn it off, though as he did Seong's eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly.
"That's the second ti you've woken up at exactly noon. I don't think that's a coincidence either."
Jin-woo paused upon hearing that but then thought of sothing and added.
"Before I started taking sleep dication, I would also cry at midnight on the dot. It's not the sa ti, but the fact that they were both exactly at 12 ans sothing right?"
Seong nodded and then added.
"Yeah, all those tis you cried when you were a baby might have been you waking up after having this out-of-body experience. As for the ti difference, maybe it can be explained by your abilities being suppressed for so long. Perhaps as ti passes and they fully co back, you'll once again be dragged back to your body at midnight instead of noon."
"But why at those tis specifically?"
Jin-woo asked with confusion and Seong thought for a mont but then shook his head.
"I don't know. The only connection between them is that midnight is the start of dayti, and noon is when it's at its peak."
However, the mont Seong said this his eyes suddenly went wide as if realizing sothing.
"Seong, what? What is it?"
Jin-woo couldn't help but ask when he saw Seong's reaction.
It took a while for Seong to answer, but he eventually did, though his voice was filled with doubt as he spoke.
"There are theories that when a person dreams, their consciousness can cross dinsions. This might be a leap in thought, but what if that was only possible because the… um… barriers to said dinsions were weakened?"
Jin-woo's eyes narrowed in thought before he nodded his head.
"Your theory makes sense, especially if you add the fact that my out-of-body experience stops when the night ends and when the day is at its peak. If night is when the barriers weaken, then it's logical to say they're at their strongest during the peak of the day."
Seong released a sigh after a while then spoke.
"Then this ans while your abilities are inducing you to have that out-of-body experience during your sleep, you'll always be brought back. If not during the start of the day, then at its peak. So, as long as nothing changes, you're going to be fine. Whatever entity is calling you won't succeed."
Jin-woo's worry mostly died down by Seong's comforting words. He then got up and decided to head for where they were serving food.
However, on his way there, he realized several eyes were following him.
It was then that Jin-woo rembered the rescue team should arrive today, and he had been sleeping until noon. He also caught sight of a few students with slightly red eyes who seed to have not gotten a wink of sleep.
From this, Jin-woo could tell everyone was on edge. But there was nothing he could do; he too could only wait and see if the Marshal was actually telling the truth.
Soon, Jin-woo reached the food serving area and got his two sandwiches.
"Sorry, Jin, the banana milks are finished."
Jin-woo glanced at the male teacher across the counter and saw him forcing a smile. This was the sa teacher who was joking just yesterday, but now he seed completely different, like a nervous ss.
"It's okay. I'll just have a bottle of water."
The male teacher nodded, then handed over the water bottle to Jin-woo.
Jin-woo turned and was about to head back to his resting area at the back of the cafeteria, but suddenly, a familiar sweet-sounding voice called his na.
"Jin!"
Jin-woo quickly turned in the direction of the voice and saw Ah-yong waving at him from a table. In her hand, he saw that she was holding a banana milk.
A warm feeling rose in Jin-woo's heart upon seeing her. He imdiately decided to change his direction and head over to her table which was to the far side of the cafeteria.
Ah-yong smiled and said as Jin-woo approached.
"I saw that the banana milks were about to finish, so I saved one for you."
"Thanks, but how did you know I wanted banana milk?"
Jin-woo asked as he sat down across from Ah-yong with his back facing the rest of the cafeteria.
Ah-yong, in response to Jin-woo's question, shyly confessed.
"I was looking for a chance to talk to you yesterday, but you were always with soone."
"Oh."
Seeing Jin-woo's surprised reaction, Ah-yong explained.
"I wasn't avoiding you. I know it wasn't your fault that the virus infected the school, and even if you had done it on purpose, you still saved my life and everyone else's by sacrificing yourself to trap the zombies. We're indebted to you regardless."
"Thanks."
Jin-woo said with a smile, but after, an awkward silence fell between the two. Luckily it was quickly broken by Ah-yong who slid the banana milk over to Jin-woo's side while saying.
"Here, this is yours."
"Ah, thanks. You can have this."
Jin-woo, in return, offered one of his sandwiches. Although Ah-yong refused at first, through Jin-woo's urges she accepted half of one of the sandwiches.
While the two were eating, Jin-woo rather casually slid his water over to Ah-yong before asking a question.
"Were you really training to be an idol with a big agency?"
Ah-yong glanced away from the water bottle and then smiled at Jin-woo before answering.
"Yeah, but before I debuted, I decided to leave and beco independent."
"Can you say why?"
"Sure, but it's nothing big. It's just that I had always plan on going independent. I only joined a big agency to get a feel of the training they do and get so experience."
Seong, who was sitting next to Jin-woo, clicked his tongue and looked at Ah-yong as if he was seeing her for the first ti before saying.
"Jin, your Ah-yong isn't so sweet. I bet she only joined that agency to use their na to advertise her independent career, though this also shows she's confident in her skills. Quick, ask her how long she trained with the agency and how well she did to confirm my guess."
Jin-woo instead acted like he didn't hear Seong and asked Ah-yong a different question.
"What's your channel na? I might look it up after we're rescued."
A blush slowly crept onto Ah-yong's face as she responded.
"My Idol na was Aya, so I just used that for my channel na. But don't expect anything big. I only do song covers and dance a little on there."
Jin-woo chuckled lightly as he shook his head and said.
"Your speaking voice sounds really sweet so I can't help but get my expectations up."
Ah-yong blushed even more upon hearing that, which made Seong release a low whistle at Jin-woo.
Jin-woo ignored him again and went to speak, but suddenly, he heard soone call out to him from behind.
"Jin, you're awake! The signal ca back. Are you up for a ga?"
Jeon-sok excitedly said as he bounded over to Jin-woo.
.....
A/N: I plan on rewriting this book. The rewritten version should be up in a while, but there will be no major changes to the plot. Still, perhaps give it so love if you can.
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