Chapter 9: Ivywood Girls’ Academy (9)

The school cafeteria was already packed with students lining up for food. The players, unable to suppress their hunger, grabbed their trays and rushed to the various food windows.

However, when they saw what was being served, their faces turned pale.

Meat—nothing but meat.

It was all raw, drenched in blood, resembling a grotesque mass of flesh with a few wilted lettuce leaves. Some pieces hadn't even been properly processed, with organs still attached.

One player couldn't hold it in and vomited on the cafeteria floor.

Thinking back to the female student who had jumped to her death last night, and now seeing this gruesome display, it was hard not to make the connection.

All the bodies had mysteriously disappeared.

Could it be that they had been transported here?

Looking around at the other students, their faces were eerily expressionless, lifeless. Unlike NPCs like Leo, they seemed to lack any form of emotion.

Rowan, holding his tray, calmly walked to the most secluded food window.

That window only served soup. At least, from its appearance, it didn't seem to contain any meat—just a simple broth with bones.

Some players noticed this and quickly followed his lead.

The cafeteria lady stirred the soup with a large bone, and the players, upon seeing its size, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Human bones couldn't possibly be that big, so at least it wasn't human flesh soup.

Everyone assumed that after getting his soup, Rowan wouldn't take anything else. But to their shock, he immediately walked to another window and ordered a large portion of raw meat.

"…?"

The players stared at the blood-drenched meat in his bowl, barely holding back their nausea.

Noticing their gazes, Rowan turned back to them. "What's wrong?"

Jose, who was among the group, mustered up the courage to step forward. He was Rowan's roommate, so he was at least somewhat familiar with him.

"H-Hey, Rowan… don't you think there's something off about this meat? I thought you were only getting soup."

Rowan picked up a piece of raw meat with his chopsticks, calmly swallowed it, and replied, "How could I be full with just soup? Besides, this meat is quite good."

He tilted his head slightly, a trace of fresh blood still on his lower lip, revealing a smile that sent shivers down their spines.

The new players quickly averted their gazes, too terrified to continue watching.

Jose, though also unnerved, reasoned that since Rowan was eating it himself, maybe it wasn't dangerous.

As Rowan said, they couldn't just starve themselves. If the cafeteria kept serving raw meat, would they really rather die of hunger?

Making up his mind, Jose copied Rowan and got himself a portion of raw meat. He sat beside Rowan hesitantly. "Rowan, can I sit here?"

Rowan sipped his soup and shrugged. "I don't mind."

Jose hesitated before asking, "Can I ask you something?"

Rowan gave him a glance, signaling him to continue.

Jose took a deep breath. "Why are you so sure the soup is safe?"

He was referring to how Rowan had gone straight for the soup earlier.

Rowan chuckled. "It's just a habit of mine to get soup first. This cafeteria only serves soup in the corner. As for your question—I don't really care. Cannibalism isn't just a thing of nightmares. Even if you return to the real world, can you be sure it isn't a place where people get eaten?"

As he spoke, he took another bite of meat.

Jose froze. Rowan's mindset was completely different from theirs.

Rowan glanced at the stunned Jose. "By the way, you got pork. All the meat here is pork. It just looks bad."

Jose visibly relaxed.

They were too on edge. They had started associating any meat they saw with something horrific.

If they couldn't even distinguish between human and pork, they really were on the verge of losing their minds.

Just as Jose took his first bite, Rowan spoke again, almost absentmindedly.

"But, you know, grilled human flesh tastes just like pork. You should try it sometime."

"PFFT!"

Jose choked instantly, the meat caught in his throat. He pounded his chest, struggling to breathe, his face turning red.

Rowan's amused smirk deepened. He casually poured some soup into Jose's mouth, then stood up and left before Jose could react.

His plate was completely empty.

Just as he walked a few steps away, Jose called after him.

"Rowan! Have you ever… have you ever really…"—killed someone?

Jose finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

Although he hadn't finished his sentence, someone as perceptive as Rowan wouldn't have trouble understanding.

Rowan turned back slowly.

This time, there was no smirk on his face. His expression was cold, devoid of emotion.

"I forgot."

But even if Rowan really had killed before… so what?

Those chosen to enter this world—how many of them were truly innocent?

In horror games, serial killers were never in short supply.

If the gods decided to sentence them all to death, they wouldn't feel any burden.

After all, they were the scum of society to begin with.

—

That afternoon, during self-study, no one dared to slack off. There was an exam tonight. If they didn't cram now, they would be doomed.

Leo had written the homework assignment on the blackboard: Complete pages 1 to 10 of the workbook.

For Rowan, who had been assigned double the workload, that meant twenty pages.

"This is the homework? Wait… why are all the assignments essays?"

It wasn't just the new players who noticed—some of the veteran players also found it strange.

Jack sighed. "That's a good thing, isn't it? At least we can make stuff up. Way better than solving math problems."

"Heh." Rowan suddenly let out a cold chuckle, making Jack frown.

"What's so funny?" Jack snapped.

Rowan didn't even look at him. "You think writing is easy? The rate of baldness among full-time writers and mathematicians is nearly the same. Creativity itself is an exhausting process."

He casually underlined a part of the essay instructions—

Each essay must be at least 200 words.

The word count requirement felt… off.

Elementary school essays were at least 400 words, middle school ones 600, and high school essays typically 800.

Why was this assignment only asking for 200 words?

For Rowan, finishing twenty essays in an afternoon wasn't impossible.

But it wasn't the workload that mattered. It was why the word count was set this way.

This time, unlike the previous test, Rowan didn't slack off.

He picked up his pen and began writing.

Everyone else was racing against time.

Jack ignored Rowan's cryptic comments—homework was easy to handle.

The real challenge was the upcoming test tonight.

Afternoon study period passed quickly. Many players, unable to stomach the cafeteria food, decided to skip dinner, secretly hoping for a different menu tomorrow.

Dinner break lasted an hour.

Afternoon classes ended at 5:30 PM, and the evening session started at 6:30 PM.

In the cafeteria, Jose spotted Rowan and was about to sit with him—

But someone was already in the seat next to him.