Side Chapter 01 - The Students' Predicament

**Jack's P.O.V**

Today, as usual, we started class at 8 AM and as expected, that guy isn't here. I really pity that guy. Just because of his horrifying childhood, nobody wants to get close to him, aside from me and Amy, at least. Amy is a cheerful, kind-hearted girl. When she knew about the verbal abuse that Chris was getting, she immediately tried to help him. However, that guy refused her. That's to be expected, he is after all like those guys.

If you're wondering about who these guys are, then I, you otaku friend Jacob 'Jack' Martin, will tell you about it.

One day, as I was going home, I saw a group of bullies surrounding Chris. At first, they just insulted him, but he shrugged it all with a nonchalant gaze. I was curious about that guy since this happened before we got to know each other, so I hid there and observed them.

After a while, one of them got angry because Chris kept ignoring them and he pulled out a knife from his pocket and tried to threaten the poor kid.

However, just as he was about to stab Chris, the latter looked into the eyes' of the bully. Everything froze; Time stopped and the 'Yankees' were petrified in their spots, everything stood still before that gaze of his.

His deep black eyes were like an endless valley that threatened to consume them. He was like a monster that was about to engulf his victim, just like a snake that was watching its prey, just like a… Well, you get the idea.

The amount of killing intent that he used to intimidate them could only be released by a veteran Marine Soldier. At that time, the most ridiculous thought appeared in my mind.

'He's just like those villains from Anime!'

Some of you will think of me as crazy to compare him to something unreal, but if you were here and could see those eyes of his, you won't think of me as crazy. My years of watching Anime proved that he is really like those guys. If I keft him alone, it could get really dangerous for him.

So, from that day onward, with that in mind, I tried to get close to him little by little until I became something like his best friend. It was one-sided friendship, though. He always ignored me, but I didn’t give up and tried to befriend him.

Now, back to present.

"Hey, Jacob, have you seen Chris?" The one who asked me this question was Amy.

So, she hasn't given up until now, huh. I really appreciate her efforts, but I don't think that Chris will be able to change because of that. His trauma runs deep than that, you can’t just expect him to transform overnight.

"I don't know, I think he's at his usual spot on the ro..."

I wasn't able to finish my sentence because a screen suddenly appeared before me that mentioned something about the merging of worlds and earth becoming an RPG game of some sort. At first, I thought I was hallucinating, but when I looked around, I found everybody confused and some were still reading the message.

Maybe this situation is like those apocalyptic LN that I used to read. If it’s like that, then I should treat this seriously because if I don't, I could easily lose my life.

It mentioned some points, so I thought that there were Status and Stores and those. I tried many commands, but finally 'Shop' worked.

I browsed through it, but only bought a weak Laser Gun that costed 200 Points from the Weapons section. If this is the same as what I know, then maybe with this, I could defeat some monsters and gain some points. And true to my thoughts, Zombie-like monsters barged from the door.

I tried to kill them with the gun, it worked and I gained 10 Points. However, I wasn't the only one who did. That bastard Patrick was doing the same. He used a table's steel leg to smash their heads.

At that time, I didn't know how he did it, but later, I would know that he bought the 'Warrior' class and used the 'Martial Arts' ability that came with it.

Just after we killed all the Zombies that got into the classroom and closed the doors tightly, we heard an announcement that told us to gather in the Dining Hall.

As expected, Patrick, that motherfucker tried to force himself to become the leader. That wasn't so hard since he was powerful, way more powerful than a normal human. He even tried to take my gun, but a glare from me and the other students stopped him.

After that, we got out of the classroom and carefully went into the hallway while being vigilant of our surroundings. We met some monsters, but they were weak and we were able to kill them. It wasn't that hard since they were all Zombies and other creatures that resembled them which I think are Ghouls or Undead.

However, something terrifying happened after that. Just as we neared the men’s bathroom, a horrifying horde of monsters appeared before us.

Patrick started panicking and tried to run from fear, leaving us alone. However, he couldn't do that, monsters already surrounded us and there was no way out.

I was really angry at this motherfucker. First, he tries to forcefully make himself the leader and then he does this!? Who the fuck does he think he is? However, thinking like this now won’t get us anywhere. I must make the students calm down and think of a way to save them.

"Get yourselves together! Now isn't the time to be panicking! We should unite our efforts and get away from this place"

I shouted with all my efforts. At first, not many people responded, but when they saw me killing monsters with my Laser Gun, their morale went up a notch.

Then, we formed a circle with the weak girls getting surrounded by the powerful people. It went good at first and there wasn’t any problem. We also managed to get past it without casualty.

Nonetheless, it seems that fate isn't with us; a girl tripped when we were moving. She fell down just before the monsters and she tried to cling to Patrick's leg to make him pull her.

However, that bastard didn't do it. Instead, he kicked her with his legs and made her go further deep into the horde of the monsters. He didn’t even think of the consequences that his actions would provoke in the group and even if he didn’t, how the fuck could he just betray his classmate and literary kill her.

Then, we heard heart-clenching screams that made even me afraid. I felt my heard getting ripped apart by those shouts. The weak-willed students began to panic and started running all over the place.

I tried to stop them and make them calm down. However, with insignificant power, no one would listen to me. I wonder what that guy would do now. I'm sure that he will just abandon them and go on alone.

However, I'm not him. I know that it's foolish to think like this, but I want to save them.

I want to save all the people! I want to be a hero! If I can't save a few students, how could I become a hero? I knew that my thoughts were just foolish wishes, but still, I always wanted to become a hero like those MC of Anime.

Alright, let's do this! I will save them!

I started to order the leftover people to do this and that. We coordinated and cooperated and finally, after struggling for what felt like eternity, we were able to run away. I was on the verge of despair when I saw how many students were left. From our class that had 28 people, only 4 survived; me, Patrick, a girl and a boy.

I started doubting myself then. Can I really become a hero? Can I really save people? Those sort of questions started clouding my mind, but I concentrated and made myself forget about them.

Our trip to the Dining Hall after that was uneventful. We just marched silently and nobody said anything, but I noticed that the boy and girl were trembling nonstop. When we reached the Hall, we found that about 40 students and 2 teachers survived and made it here.

Patrick, thinking he is some kind of superman that nobody can refuse or deny; he tried ordering the teachers and the students around.

What he didn't expect is that there was another 'Warrior' there; he was Mr. Antoine, our French teacher. However, what shocked me and what nobody expected is that Patrick easily defeated him within 5 seconds.

Why did that happen? They should have the same class and thus, the same abilities. Maybe it was because of his experience of fighting monsters? No, I'm sure that teacher got attacked as well, so why?

But then, it occurred to me. Where did all those points that he earned from killing monsters go? He killed more monsters than me and I now have about 630 Points now. Probably, he used them to buy an ability or strengthen himself. It seems that a very annoying bastard is becoming our leader.

He then ordered the guys around here to send 2 teams composed of 5 students accompanied with a teacher each with the pretext of searching for survivors. It goes without saying, but those students are very powerful humans that adapted to this apocalypse. I didn’t know why he did it, but I had a bad feeling about this.

After waiting for hours, the teams didn't come back and finally I knew why. He sacrificed them to make himself the only powerful human who these people can rely on, that son of a bitch! Just because he wants to be the leader, he fucking killed 12 humans. Does he have no heart? He just went and told 12 people to kill themselves to just fucking fulfill his desires.

I should use my points to buy a class and beat the hell out of him. After some searching for a perfect class for this situation, I bought an 'Assassin' class for 600 points. It also came with the 'Stealth' ability.

I planned to use this skill with my gun and surprise attack Patrick. Someone like him shouldn’t be allowed to live. If he continues on being the leader, bad things will happen to us.

However, just as I was about to do it, something unbelievable happened; one second, everybody is somewhere crying or doing whatever they want and the next second, every one of us is assembled in the middle of the courtyard and bound with very powerful ropes that even Patrick couldn't set himself free from them.