This morning's class only added to Zeyn's growing headache.
He sat near the window with his head resting against one hand, barely paying attention to anything. Everything he saw looked blurry anyway.
He had forgotten his glasses.
Again.
Being born with poor eyesight had already forced him to adapt long ago. But forgetting the one thing that actually helped him see clearly was becoming an increasingly irritating habit.
"Huff… what a pain," he muttered under his breath. "And I still haven't found my wallet since yesterday."
His gaze drifted outside the window, abandoning the lecture entirely.
From the seat beside him, Kriss leaned closer and whispered, "Hey, Zeyn. Stop daydreaming."
"Hmm?" Zeyn turned slightly.
"Do you even know Mr. Garry?" Kriss asked quietly. "That guy would kill anyone who doesn't pay attention in class."
One of Zeyn's ears twitched slightly after hearing that. Even so, his expression remained completely uninterested.
"So be it," he muttered.
"What the hell…"
"I forgot my glasses," Zeyn added lazily. "So what's the point of focusing on the front?"
"You forgot them? Again?!" Kriss rubbed his forehead. "Man… you're something else."
He already knew Zeyn could barely see without his glasses, but forgetting them again was still ridiculous. Ignoring the professor on top of that sounded like pure suicide.
"Say…"
"What?" Kriss glanced sideways curiously.
Zeyn looked back at him. This time, his expression seemed oddly serious.
"Something about this classroom feels… wrong."
"Huh?" Kriss tilted his head. "What're you talking about?"
History class itself wasn't the problem. It was the atmosphere.
The air felt strangely heavy, as if invisible walls were slowly pressing inward from every direction.
"As I stated earlier, you are encouraged to conduct literary studies in a disciplined manner by reading references from multiple sources. That is how you deepen your understanding of the material I have explained."
Mr. Garry's voice echoed from the front of the room. Then, his eyes landed directly on Zeyn.
"However…" his voice lowered slightly, "perhaps some of you who came to Grimhour Institute already consider yourselves skilled enough to ignore the lecture entirely."
The entire classroom instantly fell silent.
Kriss swallowed nervously and quietly tugged at his friend's sleeve.
"Hmm?" Zeyn finally looked up properly, only now realizing how quiet the room had become.
His gaze settled on the professor. A tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in a neat black suit. But that was also when he noticed it.
An aura.
Something grayish leaked from the ring wrapped around Mr. Garry's finger. The object was forcing Qi outward unnaturally, spreading it through the classroom like invisible smoke.
The effect wasn't particularly strong, but it was enough to make everyone uneasy without understanding why.
"I see…" Zeyn muttered quietly.
At the very least, it enhanced the professor's presence and made him appear far more intimidating than he actually was.
Cheap tricks.
That was all it was.
"Your name is Zeyn, correct?" Mr. Garry slowly walked toward his desk.
The sound of his leather shoes echoed across the classroom floor. He lightly tapped the book in his hand.
"Yes," Zeyn answered shortly.
"Is there something you wish to say to me?" the professor asked. His chin remained slightly raised as he looked downward.
"No, sir."
"Then I assume I won't be hearing excuses for not paying attention, correct?"
"Yes, sir. Sorry," Zeyn replied softly. Even so, his eyes never left the professor.
"Good. Then pay attention."
Mr. Garry turned around and began walking back toward the front of the classroom.
As he moved away, Zeyn finally got a clearer look at the ring.
"Truly a cheap trick…" he muttered quietly.
* * *
"Haah… I'm tired."
Kriss let out a long sigh of relief as the lecture finally ended. He leaned his head against one hand while slumping over the desk dramatically.
"Dude, that teacher is seriously too intense," one of the students complained.
"It's only been a week, and we already got a professor who can't relax at all," another added.
The students were still inside the classroom, casually venting now that Mr. Garry had finally left.
"But wasn't it strange?" a student named Andre suddenly spoke up. "The atmosphere in the class felt kinda spooky earlier."
Several others immediately nodded.
"Yeah… I felt that too."
"It was uncomfortable for some reason."
"It felt hard to breathe."
None of them really knew how to explain it properly.
It wasn't because of the lecture itself. Mr. Garry's teaching style was strict, sure, but that alone shouldn't have made the classroom feel so unnerving.
And yet…
Something about that atmosphere had made the hairs on their necks stand up.
"Relax," Damian, the class president, said while trying to sound positive. "Maybe we're just not used to him yet, so he feels intimidating."
Some students agreed. Others clearly didn't.
"Heh… that Zeyn guy seemed calm the whole time, though," someone commented. "Even after being the one who triggered the professor."
"Anyway, Zeyn…" Kriss turned toward the seat beside him. "Why didn't you just explain earlier that you forgot your glasses?"
But the seat next to him was already empty.
"…Wait, what? Where the hell did he go?"
"Well, Zeyn already left right after class ended," someone answered casually.
"Huh?" Kriss scratched his head. "I swear he was still sitting beside me a second ago."
"Yeah, that's just your imagination. Hahaha."
A few students laughed.
"Ah, whatever!" Kriss waved it off in annoyance. "Anyway, I'm going to the canteen to look for him. Anyone wanna come?"
Unfortunately, everyone immediately refused.
"Nope. Too lazy."
"I don't have money. You paying?"
"I just wanna play games and sleep."
Kriss could only stare at them speechlessly.
* * *
As he walked through the corridor, Kriss gradually became lost in thought.
The hallway had grown noticeably quieter without him realizing it. Most students had already returned to their own activities, leaving only scattered footsteps echoing through the building.
"Hmm… something about him feels fishy," he murmured to himself.
It was about Zeyn.
For some reason, Kriss always felt something strange whenever he was around him. At first, he had simply assumed the guy was introverted. Quiet. Socially awkward, maybe.
But after spending several days near him… He found himself becoming increasingly curious instead.
"Someone who forgets his glasses twice…" Kriss muttered under his breath. "Even though he can barely see without them? Interesting…"
Moments later, his wandering thoughts suddenly came to a stop. His eyes caught sight of a familiar figure standing at the far end of the corridor. There, stood the exact person he had been thinking about this entire time.
Zeyn silently stared outside through one of the large corridor windows, unmoving as the sunlight spilled across his figure.
"Ahh, speak of the devil…"
He approached slowly, intending to greet him directly.
But after noticing Zeyn standing there in silence, he ended up turning his attention toward the scenery outside as well.
As usual, the campus buildings stretched across the distance beneath a gloomy sky thick with gray clouds.
"Again, this city looks like it's about to cry at any moment," Kriss commented casually, trying to start a conversation. "What do you think?"
"Hmm…" Zeyn only hummed softly.
"Oh yeah, by the way… You look a little different today. At least your eyes don't look as scary as before. Hahahaha~"
That phrase again.
Zeyn had heard it countless times before from people who barely knew him.
"Am I… scary?" Those ruby-red eyes slowly turned. "Are you afraid of me?"
Kriss blinked in confusion. "What? Why would I be afraid of you?"
"You said my eyes looked scary. So…"
The blond immediately realized what he had accidentally implied.
"Ah! No, no, that's not what I meant!" Kriss quickly waved both hands in panic. "I wasn't insulting you or anything. I actually think you look better like this."
"…Like what?"
"Like those lazy eyes."
Zeyn blinked once. "Huh?"
"Well…" Kriss scratched his cheek. "People who can't see properly usually squint their eyes all the time, right? So sometimes they end up looking kinda intense."
He said it lightly. Then, as usual, a wide grin appeared on his face.
"But right now, you honestly just look lazy instead," he added. "So you seem calmer."
"Oh…?" Zeyn turned back toward the window. "So it can look like that…"
"Yeah! Totally normal. But, uhh…"
"Yes?"
"I'm really not trying to insult you here," he said cautiously. "But your red eyes actually look cool to me. Like some anime character or something."
The words sounded strange to Zeyn. For as long as he could remember, almost nobody had ever complimented his eyes before.
Other than Julius.
"Ani… me?"
Kriss nodded. "It's a type of two-dimensional animation. Usually used in films, artwork, manga, and stuff like that. We call it Asian-style animation."
"Oh… I see."
"By the way," he continued, "speaking of scary… did you also feel something strange during the lecture earlier? The others said the professor felt way too intimidating."
"Wasn't that exactly what I said before?" Zeyn replied with a deadpan expression.
"Huh? Did you?" Kriss tilted his head. "Meh… I forgot. But seriously, it felt like there was this heavy pressure in the room, right?"
"Hm. You're right."
That was how their conversations had been since earlier.
Even though Zeyn mostly answered with short responses, Kriss still stayed beside him without minding it at all.
"Oh, by the way, are you hungry?" Kriss suddenly asked. "We could go to the canteen together."
"Sorry, but I need to go now."
"Eh? Where to?"
"…Somewhere," Zeyn answered flatly. "There's something I need to take care of."
"A-ah… okay. Too bad." Kriss rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Maybe next time, then?"
"Hmm."
With a small nod, Zeyn walked past him slowly, both hands tucked into his pockets.
Kriss fell silent afterward. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. There were actually still several things he wanted to say, but… perhaps another time would be better.
He quietly watched Zeyn disappear into the corridor. The atmosphere suddenly felt emptier after.
"…Seriously. What kind of person are you?"
For some reason, the more he talked to Zeyn, the harder the guy became to understand.
And strangely enough… that only made him more curious.
* * * *