The bell rang.
A normal sound.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Not because it was loud—
But because I had heard it before.
More than once.
"…No way."
I slowly lifted my head.
The classroom looked exactly the same.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting long shadows across worn desks.
The teacher stood at the front, writing meaningless notes on the board.
Students laughed, whispered, lived their ordinary lives.
Everything… was perfect.
Too perfect.
Exactly like before.
My heart began to race.
Faster.
Louder.
"This already happened."
A sharp pain shot through my head.
Fragments of memory—
Blurry.
Broken.
But enough to make my body tremble.
Blood.
Screaming.
Something—
Not human.
And then—
Darkness.
I died.
I was certain of it.
So why…
"…am I still here?"
I stood up suddenly.
My chair crashed loudly against the floor.
The entire class turned toward me.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Huy frowned.
I didn't answer.
Because I remembered.
The door.
It was about to open.
Right now.
3…
2…
1—
BANG.
The door exploded open.
Screams erupted instantly.
The air froze.
Something stood at the entrance.
Black.
Distorted.
As if reality itself had been twisted around it.
No clear face.
Only—
Eyes.
Locked onto me.
"…It's the same."
I stepped back.
My body shook.
Not from fear—
But from certainty.
I had seen this before.
And last time—
I died here.
The creature moved.
Too fast for the eye to follow.
A student near the door—
Didn't even have time to react.
Torn apart.
Blood splattered across the board.
Screams filled the room.
Chaos exploded.
But this time—
I didn't freeze.
"RUN!" I shouted.
Huy flinched.
"What?!"
"RUN NOW!"
No time to explain.
I grabbed his arm—
And pulled him out.
We sprinted into the hallway.
Footsteps echoed behind us.
Not just ours.
Something else.
Heavy.
Fast.
Closing in.
"…It's chasing us!" Huy gasped.
"I know."
"How do you KNOW?!"
I clenched my fists.
"…Because I died here before."
Silence.
He didn't believe me.
But he didn't stop running either.
Because deep down—
He could feel it too.
We weren't escaping.
We were delaying the inevitable.
We stopped at the stairwell.
A mistake.
I knew it instantly.
"…This is bad."
"What now?" Huy panted.
I turned.
The creature—
Didn't attack.
Didn't rush forward.
It stood there.
Watching.
Studying.
As if it was thinking.
"…That's new."
It tilted its head.
Its gaze never left me.
As if it recognized me.
As if—
It remembered.
My chest tightened.
"…No way."
A cold realization crept in.
It wasn't just me.
The loop—
Was changing.
And the thing hunting us—
Was learning.
The air trembled.
Something appeared in front of me.
A translucent interface.
Cold.
Unnatural.
[System Initialized]
I froze.
"…So it's real."
Huy stared at me like I had lost my mind.
"Who are you talking to?!"
I ignored him.
My eyes locked onto the next lines.
[User Detected: Anomaly]
[Memory Retention Confirmed]
[Status: Irregular]
A slow smile formed on my face.
"…An anomaly, huh?"
[Main Objective: Survive]
"…Of course."
But I knew better.
This wasn't just survival.
This was selection.
And someone—
Was watching.
[Countdown Started: 10:00]
A timer appeared.
Ticking down.
Huy's voice trembled.
"What is that?!"
"…Time."
"…To stay alive."
00:09:41
I took a slow breath.
"If we don't die before it ends…"
"…we might survive."
Huy swallowed.
"This feels like a game…"
I stared into the empty air.
"…No."
"…This is a hunt."
A sound echoed ahead.
Not one.
Several.
Three.
Four.
Five.
More creatures—
Emerging from the shadows.
"…The difficulty increased."
I clenched my fists.
My eyes hardened.
"…Then let's play properly."