As if issuing a warning, an ominous premonition rang sharply through his mind. Having already been burned by this feeling several times, Sihyeon carefully scanned the sea—but now that the strong winds had died down, the ocean showed no particular signs of anything unusual. Even after quite some time passed, nothing happened. At last, calm had arrived.
Looks like it’s really over.
Convinced of their safety, Sihyeon relaxed his previously tense body. It seemed the nightmare had merely been disguised as a prophetic dream. Just as that thought crossed his mind—
Ahhhhh—
A song echoed from somewhere.
“What the— all of a sudden…!”
A clear, crystalline voice—like jade beads rolling—sang a beautiful melody. At the song that seemed to resonate across the entire sea, the teachers frowned.
“It’s a Siren!”
Only then did one teacher belatedly reveal the identity of the song.
“Everyone, cover your ears!”
But simply covering one’s ears wouldn’t solve it.
Ahhhhh—
The Siren’s song was more mature and far more beautiful than the one they had heard during the Monthly Evaluation. Listening to the teachers mention an adult Siren, Sihyeon realized that the Siren they had faced back then hadn’t been a fully grown one. As the song continued, he clamped his hands over his ears. It had no effect.
“Where the hell is it singing from?!”
“Block it! Does anyone have a sensory-blocking ability?”
“No!”
“Not even among the reserves?”
Urgent voices rang out. A teacher stomped their foot in frustration, saying that the one student who had that ability had been expelled.
It was then that the previously halted ship began to move.
Boooooo—!
With the blare of the ship’s horn, the massive cruise liner started moving again. As Sihyeon blinked in surprise, one of the Awakened from the Association cursed and sprinted toward the navigation room.
“Damn it, the navigator’s been charmed!”
“Pull him out!”
“Head Instructor, the students—!”
One by one, people began to fall under the Siren’s spell. The navigator had started sailing on his own, and some students were even trying to jump into the sea—the very waters where the Kraken had fled. Those still in their right minds were holding them back, but this standoff couldn’t last forever.
“Mom….”
A young, trembling voice cried out.
Crash!
The navigators, dragged out by Awakened, were thrown onto the floor. The teachers, flustered, shoved the barely recovered students back into their cabins—but even that was hindered by newly enthralled students resisting them.
“Suhyeon! No!”
The reaction of those charmed by an adult Siren was drastically different from during the Monthly Evaluation. Their eyes rolled wildly as they thrashed like mad, trying to throw themselves into the sea. In the process, they didn’t care if they scratched their friends’ arms or left bruises behind.
Just as the ship descended into chaos once more following the Kraken incident, Sihyeon squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and raised his hand.
“I can use Block.”
“…Student Sihyeon?”
At his confession, all the teachers turned toward him. Even amid the chaos, the voice that could become the key to resolving the situation rang out clearly.
“Is that true?”
Sihyeon nodded. He had seen the skill of the expelled student before.
“How many uses do you have…?”
“It’s Copy, so as long as I use it within 10 minutes, there’s no limit on the number of times. And my mana should be enough.”
In truth, he didn’t use mana to begin with, so it didn’t matter. Still, one could never predict everything—so he concealed part of the information about Copy just in case.
From there, things progressed rapidly. First, Sihyeon blocked the hearing of the enthralled students, then quickly moved around, sequentially blocking the hearing of the teachers and the Association’s Awakened. They were the ones who needed to respond the fastest—if they were charmed, it would be disastrous.
Afterward, he blocked his own hearing and approached the remaining students. For every five people he managed to block, one more would fall under the spell. To speed things up, he had to move even faster, and for the first time, Sihyeon found himself missing his pink staff that assisted with long-range skill use.
In the silence where only a dull pressure filled his ears and no sound could be heard, Sihyeon finished the task quickly. Just barely within the 10-minute limit, he managed to block the hearing of everyone on deck.
Now, the problem was the staff inside the ship.
From the chefs onward, all the crew rushed outside. Some tried to throw themselves into the sea, while others grabbed knives and attempted to harm people. The teachers tried to stop them, but with only five against more than fifty staff members, they were overwhelmed.
In the end, one staff member broke through the Awakened’s barricade and plunged into the sea.
The ocean was now the Kraken’s domain. The moment anyone jumped in to save them, they would experience firsthand the overwhelming power of a quasi-Catastrophe-level threat.
“……”
No one spoke.
The teachers clenched their eyes shut as they struggled desperately to subdue the staff. The Awakened couldn’t use their abilities on ordinary people. Moreover, both the teachers and the Association’s Awakened present were specialized in offense. There was no way they could restrain all fifty people across such a large ship.
As the teachers and Awakened worked to subdue the staff, the travel agency guide scribbled something on paper and instructed the navigator to move away from the area.
Once the navigator took the helm, the previously halted ship began moving again. With his hearing blocked, Sihyeon couldn’t tell whether they had left the Siren’s territory or not.
Experiencing the loss of one sense for the first time, Sihyeon furrowed his brows. Without hearing, he found himself focusing entirely on sight. The subdued staff were locked inside cabins.
Leaning against one of those cabin doors, Sihyeon spotted someone—and narrowed his eyes.
A black-haired man with short hair. Someone he had never seen before. That meant he was a staff member Sihyeon hadn’t used Block on. Yet despite that, the man remained unaffected, calmly observing the situation.
Just as Sihyeon began to question it, the Class A students gathered around him.
Tap, tap.
At the touch on his shoulder, Sihyeon’s gaze shifted away from the man.
A boy about a head taller than him—Haru.
When their eyes met, Haru mouthed something.
“Are you okay?”
Reading his lips, Sihyeon nodded. Haru seemed fine. Dawoon and Jihye, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, also looked unharmed. And Haeun, who had joined them at some point, was smiling brightly as usual—seemingly without a scratch.
Even in this situation, he’s smiling?
Sihyeon found it absurd, rolling his blue eyes as he surveyed the ship.
The teachers remained vigilant, watching for any further incidents. The students trembled, huddled together. Inside the cabins, the staff still seemed to be under the Siren’s spell, pounding on the doors.
Rattle.
Judging from the shaking doors, the chaos inside hadn’t stopped.
Swallowing a sigh, Sihyeon realized they likely hadn’t left the Siren’s territory yet.
When will this end?
His blue eyes darkened with unease.
Sihyeon reached out and grabbed Haru’s hand.
Haru tilted his head slightly.
Just like himself—this being Haru’s first school trip—Sihyeon held his hand tightly.
Even if he could accept his own trip turning out like this, it was a shame for Haru. Outwardly, Haeun had made the biggest fuss, but to Sihyeon, Haru had seemed the most excited.
Whether he realized it or not, Haru had clearly been looking forward to this trip.
Frowning, Sihyeon stared at the deck, now even more of a mess due to the Siren incident. He hadn’t expected to encounter Irregulars not once, but twice.
At the same time, he realized something. The school had been a relatively safe zone.
Every time they went through the Monthly Evaluations, he had thought they were insane—but now, experiencing a real situation, he understood why the school conducted them so rigorously and at such high difficulty.
Half-baked individuals wouldn’t be able to respond quickly in emergencies.
Especially when facing something like today—a quasi-Catastrophe-level threat.
Even an A-class would be useless if they froze in front of an Irregular. And he had learned that the moment he stepped outside the school.
Perhaps the situation here was more serious than he had initially thought.
Until now, Sihyeon had only aimed to live quietly and peacefully—or, if that wasn’t possible, to protect his people and graduate safely. But now, he sank into thought.
For the first time, he began to seriously contemplate Irregulars.
Only after some time did the effect of the copied skill, Block, wear off.
By then, they must have exited the Siren’s territory, because as sound returned to his ears, the eerie song was no longer there.
At that realization, everyone on deck breathed a sigh of relief.
Some students collapsed to the floor, their legs giving out.
Compared to the two Monthly Evaluations and the Placement Test they had undergone, this school trip felt like far harsher training.
The teachers began a headcount again, and Sihyeon leaned against the railing, looking toward the cabins.
The male staff member he had noticed earlier was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m glad everyone is safe.”
After gathering the students, a teacher spoke with visible relief before making an important announcement.
“Due to the two incidents, both you and the ship’s staff are in a state of severe psychological distress. The ship has also sustained significant damage, making it difficult to use the cabins normally. After considering various factors, we’ve decided—regrettably—that for your safety, this school trip will end here.”
In the end, the school trip was canceled.
But no one objected. After experiencing something like this, no one would want to cross the sea to Germany.
So I guess there’s no recreation either.
Even in this situation, that thought crossed Sihyeon’s mind, and he felt a small sense of relief. The teacher then explained the remaining schedule—which, in truth, was simply returning to the school and resting.
Their 3-night, 4-day trip came to an anticlimactic end.
…Or so it seemed.
Boooooo—!
Right as the teacher finished speaking, the familiar ship horn sounded again.
At this point, just hearing it made Sihyeon cringe.
What is this, some kind of cursed ringtone? Every time that horn goes off, something happens.
Seriously considering going to the navigator and asking them to stop sounding it, Sihyeon followed the guidance and entered the cabin.
That was when the previously calm ship began to shake.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The shaking was even worse than during the Kraken incident. Students screamed and collapsed.
Sihyeon, who wasn’t holding onto anything, quickly lost his balance as well.
Rumble—!
The sky, which had only been overcast, suddenly roared violently. Thunder crashed.
Flash!
Lightning struck.
A disaster that arrived the moment they let their guard down.
The ship tilted sharply to one side, as if about to capsize. Staggering, Sihyeon fell.
Crash!
At the same time, he lost all ability to support himself and began sliding toward the tilted side of the ship.
Haru and the others tried to grab him, but it was already too late.
Bang!
Sihyeon slammed into the wall and was thrown out through a door that hadn’t been fully closed.
Thud, thud—
As his body rolled, pain shot through him, and he grimaced. He wanted to get up, but he couldn’t.
In the end, along with others who hadn’t been holding onto anything, Sihyeon rolled all the way to the railing. He quickly reached out and grabbed it.
Whip—
When he turned his head, the distance between him and the sea was alarmingly close.
The dark ocean reflected in his blue eyes. Its depth was unfathomable.
The loud blare of the ship’s horn. The pitch-black sea. And lightning.
Everything about the current situation reminded him of one thing.
The nightmare.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Sihyeon stared at the sea, a dreadful realization forming—
Splash—!
A massive hand surged up from the ocean.
