Chapter 29: Making things even
I stared listlessly at the train lights, just about done with life.
I know, I know. I said I’d try my best to survive in this life, but why did it have to be so damn hard.
Where to begin?
I crawled out of bed early this morning, still suffering the effects of my stint at the training hall, and did my morning exercises.
I then dragged myself all the way to class in that condition, thinking I’d finally get a chance to rest a bit. But no, for some accursed reason, we had physical conditioning today.
I’d never cursed anyone as much as I cursed Shang today. In my mind, of course.
’It’s like the bastard gets off watching us suffer.’
Needless to say, my body had just about given up after that class. In retrospect, it was a good thing Rowan dragged me to the hospital yesterday.
The cane and the drugs might’ve been the only reason I’d been able to carry myself back to the dorms.
Sure, the drugs didn’t do much in the way of fixing the actual burden. They did, however, suppress my nausea to a level where I could at least stand relatively straight, and not constantly feel like puking my organs out.
As much as I wanted to head straight to my room and collapse on my bed, my day wasn’t over just yet.
I had to go meet up with Song, even after that I still needed to head back to the training hall.
’If she called me for a useless reason, so help me I wil-.’
The train came to a halt before I could finish the thought.
Sighing, I pushed myself up, using the cane to support myself before stepping out of the car.
I looked around the familiar metro station, before pulling up my interface and searching Room 552.
Immediately, the interface transformed into an arrow pointing at an elevator to the left.
’This might be the one thing I’m genuinely thankful for writing.’
I would’ve been hopelessly lost without it.
’Alright, let’s go see what she wants.’
I found myself standing in a corridor, not too dissimilar from the one my room was located in.
Which made sense since all cadets were allotted basically the same rooms, at least for now.
It was subject to change upon the release of rankings. The top 20 ranking cadets would be assigned luxury-class rooms, while the rest remained stuck in their old rooms.
That was just one more reason I needed to perform well in the simulation.
I checked the number of the room in front of me again, before knocking on the door.
I waited a bit, before sighing and raising my hand to knock again. However, before my hand could touch the door, it slid open.
Behind it stood Song.
"You look Awful,"
"You look like shit."
We both spoke at the same time.
Myself I could understand; I’d been through a lot today, so it made sense I looked awful. Song, on the other hand, looked just as bad, hell, even worse than I did.
’She’s certainly seen better days.’
Her previously silky red hair was completely disheveled, and had just as much elegance as a crow’s nest. Her sharp green eyes were nowhere to be seen, replaced by dull and inflamed shadows of their former selves.
That wasn’t even mentioning the massive eye bags hanging on her face, or her rumpled, stained clothing.
Before I could even ask her anything, Song stuck her head outside, glancing left and right, before dragging me into the room.
The door closed gently behind me.
Standing in her room, I found it to be just as disheveled as she was. Her bed lay unmade, with its bedsheets, blankets, and pillow strewn carelessly on the ground.
Also lying on the floor were empty bottles of milk, used medications, and wrappers of snacks I didn’t recognize. A hologram device on her desk played a strange lofi beat, while her window display was set to midnight, even though it was barely evening outside.
I began, looking around for a place to sit.
"So... you listen to lofi too huh?,"
Song just collapsed on her bed with a tired groan.
Looking at her collapsed form, I sighed before dragging a chair away from her desk and sitting on it.
"What happened?"
Song groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position before shaking her head.
"No, I can’t tell you yet."
"What do you mean ’no’? Then why the hell did you even call me!?"
I was incredulous.
She just looked at me with those blood shot eyes of hers, before scratching her hair.
"I’m going to show you something, but if I do, you have to show me yours as well. Alright?"
’Wait, wuh?’
My eyes widened in realization, as I turned my face away from her before putting on the most dignified voice I possibly could.
"While I’m flattered by your interest, Song. I still think we’re a bit too young for that sort of thing, plus I’m saving my-"
I got an empty milk bottle to the head for my troubles.
"Not that you dingus. I meant my status for godsake."
I brushed the part of my hair the bottle hit, while seriously considering her offer.
"Firstly, word things better. Secondly, that feels a bit unfair doesn’t it?"
She perked her brows tiredly.
"How so?"
"You require me to know your status, more likely your burden, to help you out. But you understandably aren’t willing to just hand someone your burden without having leverage, so you want to know my burden as well."
Song nodded her head, stifling a yawn.
"Yes."
"So, what do I stand to gain by showing you my burden?"
She paused, considering the question a bit.
"You get to fulfill the favor you owe me."
I let out a wry smile, before wagging my finger.
"No. I don’t owe you enough to reveal my burden."
She rubbed her forehead in frustration before giving in.
"Fine, I’ll owe you a favor in turn. How’s that?"
I rubbed my chin, pretending to go over her offer.
In truth, it was a very advantageous offer to me. Firstly, my burden was something one could easily figure out if they spent enough time around me.
’I’m sure Shin and Maki, hell even Rowan likely already have accurate suspicions.’
So I wasn’t losing anything by revealing it to Song.
In turn, I’d gain knowledge of Song’s burden. She was one of the biggest variables currently at play, having memories of the novel as well as undergoing a second awakening too.
She was a great big question mark, so any information on her was a good thing. Especially knowledge as crucial as her burden.
’She likely thinks the same as well.’
Even better, I got to extort a favor from her.
I sighed, trying to look conflicted.
"Fine, let’s do that then."
She grew a smug smile at that.
I grinned mentally at her smugness, before continuing.
"It’ll be fine if we only show our burdens then, right?"
Even though I was fine with sharing my burden, my potential was the one thing I needed to keep secret.
So showing her my status was a no go.
Song looked a bit confused by the request, before shrugging.
"I guess, that’s fine too."
"Alright then, we show them on the count of three."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
A screen popped up before me.
[Burden]
[Sleepless: Balance is the requirement for all things in this world. For each gift given, something must be taken in return. For your gifts in the realms of illusions and dreams, the repose of slumber shall be revoked from you. Effects: You have been cursed with extreme insomnia.]
Well, that explained her eyes, her room, and the bottles of milk. Didn’t explain the coffee though.
’Dreams and illusions...’
As expected, her powers weren’t like anything I’d written in the novel.
I evaluated her with a measured gaze.
She was still reading my burden. I saw her face change in real time the more of it she read.
By the time she was done, I could already tell the way she looked at me had changed.
"Cleansing... a rather interesting burden you have there."
"I could say the same about you."
She likely had questions, same as I did, but it seemed her desperation for a solution to the insomnia surpassed any curiosity she might have had.
"So, can you help me?"
"I’m not sure. Why are you asking me about this though? I mean the book in our memories is the same."
She scratched her hair habitually.
"Maybe I didn’t remember it correctly, maybe the owner of those memories missed something that yours didn’t. I don’t know, I just can’t find a solution in them."
’So that’s why she turned to me.’
But I could see her point. I hadn’t written anything in the book that could combat insomnia, at least nothing a reader would know.
As the author, naturally I was privy to things that the readers weren’t.
After all, although my worldbuilding had been rather lackadaisical, I still did it.
And the answer to her problem just so happened to lie in one of those notes.
I rapped my cane gently, as a smile grew on my face.
"Your problem. I might have the solution to it."