Lately, I’ve been experiencing a lot of déjà vu. It’s so severe, so frequent, that I’ve started to wonder if I need to see a psychiatrist.
Whenever I’m in the middle of something, an unidentifiable sense of déjà vu flashes through my brain, making me freeze. Whether I’m playing a game or making idle small talk with someone, it feels like I’ve already lived through it, and it’s driving me crazy.
It’s the same right now, as I sit here listening to a lecture at the Academy.
“As I mentioned before, if a Hunter arrests or confines a criminal, it’s considered the crime of arrest and confinement. A Hunter’s legal status is, after all, no different from that of a private citizen…”
The instructor is droning on about some incredibly boring material. It’s stuff that will be on the Hunter written exam, and there’s nothing special about it.
Under normal circumstances, I would have just dozed off. Isn’t it common knowledge that the written portion of the Hunter exam carries little weight? It’s a well-known fact that the government doesn’t want smart Hunters who can think for themselves; they want idiots who will charge at any monster if you pay them enough.
And yet, I’m listening to this lecture with rapt attention. Why?
It’s certainly not because the class is interesting today. It’s just that every nerve in my body is being pulled toward this moment against my will.
“If an apartment security guard, upon receiving a noise complaint, breaks into a resident’s home and beats them up for causing the noise, they’d get arrested, right? It’s the same for a Hunter. You’ll end up paying a fine or going to jail.”
This strange sensation…
“Is everyone watching the news? They say there are a lot of Hunters getting indicted lately because they go around acting like they’re the police. I don’t know what’s wrong with them.”
I feel like I’ve experienced this lecture before. I feel like that instructor has repeated the exact same words at the exact same time, in the exact same situation.
That damn… déjà vu. It’s a déjà vu that makes me doubt whether it’s even déjà vu at all, or if it’s some kind of mental illness or superpower.
“Of course, there are always exceptions in the law.”
While I was lost in confusion, the instructor looked at me. As his mouth opened, I felt a wave of irritation.
“What might those exceptions be? Mr. Kim Geuk? Would you like to answer?”
Why is he asking me something like that? Does he want to get punched?
I was just about to tell the instructor I didn’t know.
The moment my eyes met his, I was swept up in a sensation of my consciousness being sucked somewhere else. At the same time, I thought:
Ah, it’s that again.
*******
‘If a Hunter arrests or confines a criminal…’
As soon as I heard the instructor’s voice, I made a judgment. It’s a hallucination.
I’d experienced it a few times, so I wasn’t even confused. This had been happening a lot lately.
‘A Hunter’s legal status is, after all, no different from that of a private citizen…’
In the hallucination, the instructor is delivering that same boring, useless lecture. Then, he asks me that annoying question he asked at the end.
‘Of course, there are always exceptions in the law. What might those exceptions be? Mr. Kim Geuk? Would you like to answer?’
In the hallucination, I stare blankly and answer.
‘I don’t know.’
The instructor narrows his eyes and sighs. Then he starts rambling.
‘If the act of arrest or confinement constitutes self-defense, emergency evacuation, or a self-help act, the illegality is excluded… I told you last time that this would definitely be on the exam. Mr. Kim Geuk, is this how our Academy’s savior acts? I’m truly disappointed.’
I immediately felt a surge of anger and clenched my fist. That son of a bitch.
How dare he give me attitude just because he’s a teacher? That bespectacled, scrawny bastard—if he bumped into me on the street, he wouldn’t even be able to protest…
The urge to bury my fist into that wrinkled face is intense.
*******
The hallucination ended in a split second. Back in reality, I wasn’t even particularly flustered.
Isn’t this something I’m already used to? I just quickly assessed the situation.
I looked at the instructor’s face. Since he was waiting for my answer, I recited the information I had just learned from the hallucination.
“If the act of arrest or confinement constitutes self-defense, emergency evacuation, or a self-help act?”
He must have liked it. The instructor grinned.
“Oh, Mr. Kim Geuk, looks like you’re reviewing properly? Honestly, I didn’t think you were listening to the class that closely, so this is quite moving.”
The instructor scanned the other students with a voice full of laughter.
“Did you all see how Mr. Kim Geuk memorized it word for word just now? Even an A-rank Awakened is studying this hard, so is it right for the rest of you to slack off? Everyone, you must memorize this…”
I’ve been treated like a model student, a role I never asked for. But it’s hard to feel genuinely happy just because I got a little praise.
As the instructor continued the lecture, I took a deep breath. A deep breath to suppress my anger.
Even though the incident where I was scolded by that instructor was just a hallucination, the unpleasantness toward him still lingers in my mind. As if it were something that actually happened…
Of course, I know that the emotions born this way are abnormal. I know I should ignore them.
But it’s not easy. It’s much harder than I thought.
*******
The rest of the day was the routine of a diligent Hunter aspirant.
I did strength training at the Academy gym with the help of a trainer. I kept going until the muscles all over my body were tearing.
As soon as I finished my workout, my Super-regeneration began to repair all the physical damage.
The pain of the newly formed muscle fibers swelling up larger and firmer than before was excruciating, but as always, I endured it. I didn’t even bother taking painkillers, which wouldn’t have worked on my body anyway. I just chugged a protein shake as if it were high-proof liquor.
When I got home, I washed up and collapsed into sleep.
And, as usual, I had a dream.
A dream where I detonate a nuclear bomb in Seoul. A dream where I bloom a red mushroom cloud, slaughter hundreds of thousands of Koreans, and then die myself…
It was a dream that had been repeating without fail since the day that damn déjà vu started.
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