Chapter 1707: A One from the Past: Part-2
Chapter 1707: A One from the Past: Part-2
Ssshh~
A gentle breeze drifted across the rooftop of the school building. Warm afternoon sunlight poured over a boy with deep black hair lying lazily near the edge of the rooftop.
A handkerchief covered his face, one leg resting over the other as he slept peacefully without the slightest concern for the world around him.
He wore the usual school uniform, though not quite the way it was intended. His white shirt hung untucked, the top button deliberately left open. A small ’Peace’ emblem dangled from a leather cord around his neck like a necklace. His pants sat loosely around his hips, and one shoe hung precariously from the tip of his foot, as if it might fall off at any moment.
The only sign that he was alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest beneath the sunlight.
For him, this afternoon rooftop nap was just another part of his daily routine. Nothing ever seemed capable of disturbing his precious lunch break.
Unfortunately, today was different.
"Haha... Come on, man. We just want to have a little talk~"
Several voices echoed from the terrace below.
A group of boys wearing the same school uniform emerged onto the terrace, dragging a chubby boy between them as though he were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
Thud!
The boy crashed onto the concrete floor. His body bounced slightly from the impact, his cheeks wobbling as he let out a painful gasp.
His eyes immediately turned watery. Looking up at the group surrounding him, he could only see mocking smiles and cold stares.
"P-Please... I-I was wrong. I-I-I... I’m sorry..."
"Sorry?" one of them sneered. "You suddenly remember how to apologise after snitching on us to the teacher?"
The surrounding boys burst into laughter.
"Now you’re sorry?"
"Fucking Fatty!!"
A sharp kick slammed into the boy’s stomach.
Whump!
His oversized uniform shifted with the impact as his stomach wobbled beneath the fabric. The chubby boy folded forward, clutching himself while a painful groan escaped his lips.
"Arrgh! I-I’m sorry... P-Please let me go... I won’t tell anyone again... Please..."
The group only seemed more entertained.
"Look at him."
"Hahaha!"
"Seriously, who does he think he is?"
One of the boys crossed his arms dramatically.
"A main character? Some hero trying to save the world?"
Another nodded with a grin.
"Yeah. Main character syndrome is spreading everywhere these days. Looks like even Fatty caught it~Hahah~"
"Must’ve watched too many movies."
The group laughed again.
"Isn’t that right, Fatty?"
The tallest among them crouched down until he was eye-level with the trembling boy. His muscular frame blocked the sunlight as he grabbed the front of the boy’s collar and pulled him closer.
"Tell me something," he said quietly.
The calmness in his voice was somehow more frightening than shouting.
"What got into you all of a sudden? You usually keep your head down. You never care about what anyone else does. Then suddenly you decide to play the good guy and tell the teacher we were cheating on the exam?"
His fingers tightened around the collar.
"Why?"
The chubby boy trembled.
"I... I..."
"Speak."
"B-Because..." His voice shook so badly he could barely get the words out. "Cheating... cheating is wrong..."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then the muscular boy slowly turned toward his friends with a smile spreading across his face.
"Did you guys hear that?"
He laughed.
"Cheating is wrong~"
The others immediately joined in.
"Of course it’s wrong!"
"Yup, totally wrong~"
"Oh my God, I’m such a terrible person. Forgive me, Lord~"
The terrace erupted with mocking laughter while the chubby boy sat frozen in the middle of it, his head lowered, and fists clenched helplessly against the concrete floor.
None of their faces showed even the slightest trace of guilt.
Their expressions were filled with amusement, as though they had just discovered a new toy to entertain themselves with during lunch break.
Seeing those grins only made the chubby boy tremble harder. His instincts were screaming at him that this was getting worse, and judging from the excitement in their eyes, none of them had any intention of letting him leave peacefully.
The muscular boy glanced toward one of his friends and casually stretched out his hand.
"Where’s the bag?"
One of the boys immediately stepped forward, carrying a worn school bag. He tossed it over without hesitation, and the muscular boy caught it with one hand before kneeling down and rummaging through the contents. Pens, notebooks, worksheets, and loose papers were pulled out one after another and tossed carelessly onto the concrete floor.
The owner could only watch helplessly as his belongings were treated like garbage.
After a few seconds, the muscular boy’s hand finally stopped moving.
A grin slowly spread across his face as he pulled out a thick stack of papers bound together by a clip.
"What’s this?"
The moment the chubby boy recognised the manuscript, all colour drained from his face.
"N-No!"
The reaction was immediate.
He lunged forward with more speed than he had shown the entire time, desperately reaching toward the manuscript. However, before he could even take two steps, two boys grabbed his arms while another shoved him backwards. His body crashed against the ground, and they pinned him there with surprising ease.
"L-L-Let me go!"
His voice cracked from panic.
"Give it b-back!"
The more desperately he struggled, the more entertained the others became.
The muscular boy barely paid attention to him. Instead, he glanced down at the front page and raised an eyebrow.
"Shadow World."
He read the title aloud before looking toward his friends.
"Not gonna lie, that’s a pretty dramatic title."
Several boys immediately burst out laughing.
"Shadow World? Seriously?"
"Sounds like something a twelve-year-old would write."
"N-No... Please don’t read it..." the chubby boy pleaded. His face had become completely red from embarrassment.
"Please..."
Unfortunately, his pleading only encouraged them further.
The muscular boy cleared his throat dramatically before holding the manuscript up like an actor performing on stage.
"When darkness swallowed the world, when the light would never rise again, when the world descended into chaos, when despair became everything, and when hope itself was lost..."
His voice became increasingly exaggerated with every sentence.
"We pray for God to save us, whether He is real or not. In moments of true despair, even atheists begin searching for miracles, regardless of what name those miracles carry~"
A few boys were already covering their mouths to suppress laughter.
The muscular boy continued reading while intentionally adding dramatic pauses.
"When the voices of the entire world unite as one, He shall arrive!
The one who brings light shall descend upon the darkness.
He will vanquish evil, end despair, and restore hope to those who have lost everything~"
His grin widened.
"This is the story of the Rise of the Light in the Shadow World."
For a brief second, nobody said anything.
Then the entire terrace erupted.
The laughter was so loud that it echoed against the surrounding school buildings.
"Rise of the Light?!"
"Hahaha! What kind of title is that?"
"Did this guy seriously write this?"
"Oh my God, even atheists believing in God! That’s the best part!"
"Fucking loser!"
One of the boys nearly fell over laughing while clutching his stomach.
Another wiped tears from his eyes before pointing at the manuscript.
"Forget the hero stuff. Tell me one thing. Is this a harem?"
The group immediately became even louder.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"I was thinking the same thing!"
"There’s definitely a harem!"
"No chance there isn’t one."
"I bet every girl falls in love with the main character for absolutely no reason."
"Bro probably made the hero look exactly like himself."
"That’s impossible. The hero would need to lose fifty kilos first... Hahahah!!!!!"
The group exploded into another round of laughter.
The chubby boy’s entire body shook as he struggled against the hands holding him down. Every joke felt like a knife twisting deeper into his chest.
Writing had always been the one thing he kept to himself. Nobody had ever read his stories before. Nobody had ever mocked them before. Watching them laugh at something he genuinely cared about felt far worse than the punches and kicks from earlier.
"P-Please stop..." he whispered.
Unfortunately, nobody was listening.
The muscular boy flipped through several pages before crouching down in front of him. Unlike the others, he wasn’t laughing anymore. The amused expression on his face had become colder, making him seem far more intimidating.
"Tell me something."
The chubby boy immediately stopped struggling.
"If cheating is wrong," the muscular boy said while tapping the manuscript against his palm, "then writing a novel during class is wrong too, isn’t it?"
The boy’s eyes widened.
"I..."
"You interrupted our lives because you wanted to play by the rules."
The muscular boy leaned closer.
"So why don’t those same rules apply to you?"
"P-Please..." the chubby boy stammered. "I didn’t mean to..."
"You didn’t mean to?"
The muscular boy laughed.
"That’s funny, because we didn’t mean to cheat either."
The surrounding boys immediately joined in.
"Yeah, it was a complete accident."
"My eyes accidentally looked at his answer sheet.... hahah"
"My pencil accidentally wrote the correct answers.... hahah!"
"Crazy how accidents happen... Hahah!"
Their mocking laughter filled the terrace once again.
The muscular boy slowly stood up and looked at the manuscript in his hands. The stack of papers represented months of effort, countless ideas, and every spare moment the boy had spent writing instead of talking to others.
To everyone else, it was just paper.
To the chubby boy, it was something precious.
"Since you care so much about sticking your nose into our business," the muscular boy said coldly, gripping both sides of the manuscript, "maybe it’s time somebody returned the favour."
His fingers tightened around the pages.
The paper crumpled audibly beneath his grip, and the chubby boy felt his heart nearly stop as he realised exactly what was about to happen.
"N-NO! I’M SORRY! PLEASE! I HAVE TO SUBMIT IT TOMORROW FOR THE COMPETITION! PLEASE DON’T DO IT!"
The chubby boy’s voice cracked into a desperate scream as tears streamed down his cheeks. He fought with everything he had, twisting his body and trying to wrench himself free from the boys holding him down.
His fingers stretched desperately toward the manuscript, but every attempt was shut down immediately as another hand shoved him back or tightened its grip around his shoulders. The stack of papers wasn’t just a school project to him. It represented months of effort, dozens of discarded drafts, and every spare moment he had spent building a world that existed only inside his imagination.
The muscular boy looked down at him and laughed.
"Then that’s perfect," he said without the slightest hint of sympathy.
"We are going to fail in exam, and you going to fail in the compettion. Sounds pretty fair to me."
The boys around him immediately joined in.
"Exactly!"
"You wanted justice, right?"
"Well, here’s some justice!"
The muscular boy raised the manuscript higher and glanced at the title page again.
"Honestly, it’s not like this thing was going to win anyway. Just hearing that ridiculous title already tells me enough."
The laughter around him grew louder.
"Your story is exactly like you," he continued while staring directly into the boy’s tear-filled eyes. "Pathetic, embarrassing, and completely worthless. Nobody wants to read it, just like nobody wants to listen to you... useless filthy fatty~!"
The chubby boy felt his stomach twist.
For a moment, he forgot about the pain in his arms, the humiliation, and even the crowd surrounding him. All he could see was the manuscript being crushed inside the bully’s hands. The pages bent and wrinkled as fingers dug into them, treating months of effort as if it were a piece of trash picked up from the street.
"Please..." he whispered. "Please don’t..."
The muscular boy smiled and slowly pulled his hands apart.
The paper immediately stretched between his fingers.
The chubby boy’s entire body froze.
Then something flew across the terrace.
Thud!
A black blur cut through the air before slamming directly into the muscular boy’s face with enough force to snap his head sideways.
The impact caught everyone completely off guard.
"SHIT!"
The muscular boy stumbled backwards while cursing loudly, and a shoe dropped onto the concrete near his feet.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The laughter disappeared.
The mockery disappeared.
Even the wind seemed quieter.
Then an irritated voice drifted down from above.
"Oi, cunts. If you’re done screaming like idiots, get the fuck out of here."