Another boring day. A boy uttered in his heart, his left palm held closed over his chin as his pale ocean-like eyes drift about around a rather normal classroom.
He stared at the girls gossiping about the boys at school.
He looked at the teacher who seemed tired of teaching.
He watched the boys play the latest hit mobile game together.
As for him, he sat alone in a corner simply observing. To him everything was too peaceful as if the world was lacking some kind of excitement.
It went to the point that his classmates started calling him a weirdo. He lacks enthusiasm and his facial expression is always blank and indifferent with not even a glimpse of his lips moving upward.
However, although the boys find him weird, the girls on the other hand found him quite intriguing.
His white hair kept short and layered neatly creating a clean frame to his pretty face.
Some strands of his hair brush across his glasses that give him a smart look.
His build rather lean and athletic but not on a muscular scale, more like a runner with long limbs that fits his scholarly look.
Just sitting down gave off the feeling that he was an idol born in a noble family.
And yet, none of the girls dare approach him.
Except one who went up to him when nobody would.
"You're just going to continue sitting there?" A girl said to him, breaking his peaceful and boring day.
He rest his left hand and looked up at the girl.
She was ordinary in every way. Long black hair, an pretty yet average face and a slim body.
Except for that part. He calmly uttered to himself, not staring at her face, but where all her food went.
He appreciated her for a good thirty seconds before deciding to look at her face.
"Still trying to woe me Abigail?" He asked.
"You... after you rejected me a harsh nine times do you think I would try making it ten?" The girl by the name Abigail uttered a question of her own with a flustered look as if angry.
The boy moved his eyes to look back her fat.
"Trust me when I say if you try just a little bit harder I might say yes this time." He continued jokingly yet, because of his flat tone it makes one wonder if he was joking or not.
"Oh~?" Tempted by his suggestion, Abigail put on a teasing smile as she brought her face closer to the boy.
"Is it working Kai~" She whispered into his ears.
The boy name Kai didn't as much blink at her childish attempt.
He shook his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot view you as a woman, much less a young lady."
"You are more like a... big gorilla." He stated.
Smack!
...
Hahahaha!
"What happened to your face Flemings?" A few minutes passed and the another teacher entered.
The first thing he saw was a bright red hand print on Kai's face.
He jumped seeing this and couldn't help but ask.
Hahahaha!
Again a laughter rang out but no one except Kai heard it.
"A gorilla couldn't control their bestial instincts." He replied, causing a fit of chuckles to escape everyone's mouth and a murderous gaze to be directed at him.
"I see... Alright everyone turn to page 115." The teacher nodded, noting to himself to tell the matter to the principal later.
Hahahaha!
Pipe down. Kai snapped to himself.
You really need to let your big bro teach you how to handle the ladies!
Like a dead man knows anything about women.
Heh, I may be dead, but when it comes to women, I am confident I know more about you.
That's a fact, they are all you care about.
Yep, meanwhile little bro you don't seem to care about anything! Heh, even your grades are trash, the lowest bottom of class if not the whole school!
If it wasn't for mom and dad you'd already be transferred to some school for the dunce!
The crazy voice in his head belonged to his older twin brother, Ryker Flemings. He had died before Kai was born, but instead of moving on to the afterlife, his spirit had lodged itself in Kai's mind.
For seventeen years, Ryker had been bothering Kai like a persistent mosquito. He was always yelling, blabbering about useless things, and worst of all when Kai went to sleep, Ryker could take over his body!
During those times, Ryker would go out and do outrageous things: partying at clubs, getting drunk while flirting with older women, spending all of Kai's monthly allowance, and pushing Kai's body to its absolute limit through martial arts and extreme exercise.
The good thing? None of it affected Kai when he woke up. As strange as it sounds, he felt grateful that he didn't have to deal with hangovers or soreness from Ryker's antics.
You need to start smiling. With a face like yours, a simple smile would win over any girl…
Be quiet.
No! While I have to come up with some killer line to woo girls, all you have to do is use that pretty face of yours! We are twins, and yet it's like the heavens favored you more than me! Ryker shouted, his voice tinged with frustration.
Kai imagined him looking up into the deep darkness of his subconscious with a wronged expression and said, Well, you're dead and I'm alive, so yes, I am favored by the heavens. Now can you shut up?
Harsh as always, little bro. Ryker grumbled before going quiet.
Back in the classroom, Kai returned to his peaceful, boring life. He acted as if he were paying attention to the lesson, but in reality, he was quietly dozing off.
A couple of hours later, school ended. A black Mercedes pulled up on time to pick him up. He got in and sat in silence, staring out the window. The driver, used to this routine drove off, maintaining the silence for twenty minutes until they arrived home.
His home was a well-maintained mansion, with a long driveway lined by orderly trees leading to the main road.
He stepped inside, greeted by the familiar scent of home. Yet instead of feeling happiness, he felt bleak.
His parents weren't home, and he was thankful for that. They came from wealthy families with influential connections, running top-rated businesses across the land.
The school he had just left, Prestige High, accepted only students from affluent backgrounds—Kai fit in perfectly.
Sadly, his parents were in a terrible relationship and on the verge of divorce. If they were home, they would fight, then turn on him, shouting about how useless he was.
They often threatened to disown him, and Kai firmly believed they would.
He didn't really care though. He had figured out long ago that they wouldn't disown him until their divorce was final—a process he knew wouldn't happen until he graduated high school.
That's a year from now. He thought.
You really need to start locking the fuck in. Once they disown us, we won't have any money to go to the club! Ryker shouted in his mind.
"I know." Kai replied. He may seem dumb, but he was confident he could top the final exams and earn a scholarship to a highly rated college. That was his plan to fight back, to show his parents he wouldn't need them when they finally chose to disown him.
Going to his room, he sat on his bed and browsed his phone for something interesting.
There was nothing.
He sighed. No games, no videos, no intriguing news.
"Why is this world so boring?" he muttered.
That's because you do boring stuff all day. Literally, all you do is listen to music and imagine yourself in a made-up world where danger lurks everywhere, Ryker replied.
In a sense, you're no different from me. After all, you're my little brother, but at the same time… I think you might be crazier than I am.
"What do you mean 'crazier'? Do you see me going to the club and messing with girls? You don't even know what kind of diseases they have!"
Heh! Who cares about all that? It's not like it affects your body. Whatever I end up with only applies to me, and then when I possess you the next day, it's all gone. It's very strange when you think about it… I wonder what would happen if I were to die. Would I be revived back in your subconscious the next day?
Anyways, we're not talking about me. You! Whenever I scan your head, you always have thoughts of doing something super suicidal! Like, I myself am pretty suicidal—I mean, I'm already dead—but you! Why do you imagine yourself being shredded to juice made of your own blood in a goddamn blender?! That's beyond crazy! That's insanity, little bro!
"It's an interesting thought," Kai responded, glancing at his phone again.
Interesting my ass! Look, you need to start going out and interacting with others, or one day you might give in to your own madness… Hey, what's that page saying?
Kai noticed the page and clicked on it.
"What is this garbage?" Kai scanned the page and saw a few lines.
Winning the game would earn a thousand dollars. From the comments, it seemed reliable, but Kai knew comments could easily be manipulated.
However, on closer inspection, the comments looked real. The names and profiles had appeared on other sites frequently, which gave it some credibility.
As for losing, you'd have to enter a 'bloody game,' which he had no idea what it meant.
Could it mean that some guy in a black suit would come and invite us to this 'bloody game'...?
"Are you thinking about Squid Games? That would be interesting." Kai's interest was piqued.
He immediately pressed "Yes" after Ryker stated his reasoning.
Hey! Are you stupid? What if it's actually the Squid Games?! Ryker yelled in surprise. He couldn't believe Kai actually pressed yes.
"Then we participate and win. Besides, this is your fault for spending my monthly allowance on the first day of the new month when there's not even a crumb of food in the house."
Eh, I guess you're right. Besides, even if we lose, won't we still win a thousand times the cash if it's like Squid Games?
"You're thinking too low. It would be at least a hundred thousand times better," Kai corrected.
Now we're talking!
The game soon loaded, but instead of a game, a question appeared:
What kind of game is this? It's just a stupid question! Ryker yelled in confusion as he stared at the four options: hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds.
"No matter. It's obvious the spades card is superior," Kai said, shaking his head as his interest in the game waned. He didn't expect it to be so simple. Nevertheless, he hovered his finger over the spades option, thinking about the easy cash he was about to obtain.
Wait! What if it's a tricky question? The hearts suit could also be superior, no?
"If you don't know anything, then shut it."
Wait!
"Too late, I already clicked it," Kai said, and the screen began loading the answer.
We're doomed, aren't we? Ryker said in a worried voice.
"Chill out. The answer is spades. Anyone who goes to a casino or plays cards would tell you that," Kai reassured him.
And he didn't wait long.
"Huh?"
Hahaha! The answer is obviously spades! Well, time to enter Squid Games! Where are those men about to kidnap us?!
"Pipe down. The answer should've been spades. It seems like this game was an entire scam," Kai sighed at how dramatic his older brother was acting.
"Huh?" Kai uttered again.
We're doomed! Ryker said again, this time screaming.
<3>
"This is all a scam." Kai refused to believe it.
<2>
"I don't have time for this." Kai flung his phone across the bed with a nonchalant look.
<1>
Squid Games, here I come!
"Stop being so dramatic."
<0>
<…>
"See nothing—"
Before Kai could finish his sentence, the world went dark.