Jean was led through the hallways by Eve. The two attracted the attention of what seemed to be the entire student body. The whispers around them grew as they headed up the stairs. There wasn’t a peep from Eve during their little tour. She mostly used hand gestures to point in general directions, and Jean simply guessed what she was aiming at. She would give a nod if what he said was correct and shake her head when he was wrong. The only time she would speak would be to greet the professors who happened to be passing by.

The two eventually ended up standing before a plain wooden door in what seemed to be a completely different part of the building. Massive windows were lining the wall of the hallway and doors on the other. From the look of it, it was the dormitories. Eve reached into the pouch pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a key and handed it to Jean. He took the key and unlocked the door in front of him.

The moment the door opened, a waft of stale air crept its way into the hallway. Not exactly the best first impression of his new home. Jean stepped into the room. It was lightly furnished with a single bed and a small desk and chair. The sliver of light coming through the still window curtains cast a string of light across the floor. There was dust resting on all the furniture, even the ground. There was enough dust that Jean could see his footprints as he entered the room. The distinct smell of aged wood and the chemical polish used to maintain it lingered. It didn’t help that the air itself was stagnant, making the smell that much more poignant

Jean made his way towards the window and slowly pushed the curtains aside letting in a cascade of sunlight. It enveloped the room with a bright yellowish hue. Jean opened the window and let the warm summer air in. How long has it been since this room has felt this? Jean couldn’t help but think to himself. In a way, the place was beginning again, just like he was. However, unlike Jean, the room now had a purpose.

Why am I doing this?

Questions about whether he was honestly doing the right thing lingered in his mind. Even now, Jean had no sense of purpose. He had merely been going with the flow. It was still only a few days ago that Jean watched his friend die with Jean, himself, potentially ready to be buried six-feet-under. Over time, Jean realized that he never found time to mourn his friends. Despite knowing them for many years, Jean couldn’t find it in himself to weep for them.

Now they were nothing but a passing memory. That isn’t to say that Jean felt nothing for them. It felt as though, somewhere, deep within Jean’s soul, something was stopping Jean from losing it, suppressing an ever growing urge growing within him.

Jean snapped back into reality as a loud clap traveled its way into his eardrums. He turned around to see Eve standing at the edge of the doorway. Her glassy eyes felt as though they were looking far beyond Jean. With her usual flat, emotionless tone, she finally spoke directly to Jean.

“You’ll be fine. I can feel your heart. I can see that you’re worried. But, I want you to know that you’re doing the best thing you can. See you around,”

Jean waved good-bye as tears started dribbling down his cheeks. Jean, surprised, quickly ran and closed the door, kicking up the dust that filled the room. Jean sat against the door as he curled his legs in. His head rested on his knees as he began to sob with all his might. Unlike before Jean felt the overbearing urge within him wash away and replace itself with relief. Eve’s words played in Jean’s head.

“You’re doing the best thing you can,”

With the summer sunset radiating a bright orange light, Jean couldn’t bring himself to stop the tears. As the dust settled once more, a light gust of wind entered the room to shift the dust just a little bit more.

----------------------------------------

Jean woke up to the sound of footsteps marching through the hallway of the dormitories. He pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 7:30 P.M. Jean flicked on the light in his room. A pile of dust had formed near the corner of the room. Jean assumed the wind had done it while he was asleep. Jean got up and dusted himself off before reopening the package he had received earlier. Jean pulled out the uniform and placed it on a clean part of the floor.

With a light turn, Jean cracked the door open to see students in their casual clothes making their way toward the staircase. He closed the door and walked into the small dainty bathroom in his room. After pulling on a string that was hanging from the ceiling, a bright fluorescent light turned on. Jean jumped at the sight of himself in the mirror. Specks of dust covered spots of his clothes while the bags under his eyes were swollen red from the crying. He turned on the faucet to see water pour out of it. After washing his face, he took off his clothes and shook off the remaining dust before putting it back on.

Recovering the best he could, he left the room and followed the trail of students. Jean zipped up his blue hoodie as he lurked behind a group of loud-mouthed students.

“There’s no way he’s a student! He looked like he had to be sixteen or maybe older!”

“What if he’s a new teacher?”

“Not even. He looked like he was completely lost haha. There’s no way he’d be a teacher,”

Jean put his head down and slowed his pace falling even further behind the trail of students. Upon making their way down the stairs and another corridor, the students entered through a tall door with intricate patterns carved into it. Almost as if it told a story, the carvings depicted a man with a sword and shield fending off a massive beast as it spat fire at him.

Well, that’s a cliche. Looks like something you’d find in a fairy tale.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Jean proceeded to open the door as a few more students were approaching from behind him. The door led him into a massive dining hall. While it looked similar to a typical high-school cafeteria, it was grander in size, and the food didn’t appear to look or smell like absolute garbage.

Jean mimicked what the other students were doing as he grabbed a tray and lined up near the food. There was no lunch lady. Instead, it seemed to be in a buffet style. Students took what they wanted, however much they wanted and walked off to sit down at a table. Jean did the same. Plating himself some grilled chicken, french fries, steamed vegetables as well as a small cake, he scanned the room for an empty table.

Jean managed to find one in the far corner of the room and began making his way there. He took his seat and started eating. Jean hadn’t eaten much that whole day, so he relished each bite of the food. Jean was interrupted by two trays being placed on the table, followed by their respective owners taking a seat. Jean looked up to see two boys, both around the same age as Jean. One of the boys happened to be Asian and wore his hair parted. The other boy had a buzz cut and had light brown skin.

“So you’re the new guy right?” one of the boys asked.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Jean replied.

“You’re all everyone can seem to talk about right now. I’m Donovan, but you can call me Donny,” said the boy with the buzz cut.

“Oh and I’m Dae-Ho,” said the Asian boy.

Jean swallowed his food before responding;

“I’m Jean. Nice to meet you two,”

“Likewise. Knowing the people here, they gossip more than they talk, so we figured nobody was actually going to come and talk to you,” said Donny.

“Then why’d you two come?”

“I guess you can say that we think gossip is dumb as hell,” said Donny

“Plus, there’s gotta be at least a few people willing to give you a decent welcome to the school. So, why not us? Especially considering we’re going to be killing beasts together in the future,” Dae-Ho added.

“Thanks, I guess,” Jean said. He couldn’t bring himself to accept their greetings openly. But, not wanting to be rude, Jean engaged with them for the rest of dinner.

“So what kind of executor did your potential get you?” asked Dae-Ho.

“What’s an executor? Did you mean weapon?”

“What!? You’re enrolled here, and you don’t know what an executor is?”

Jean simply responded with a blank stare, and it seemed to be more than enough to get Donny to explain.

“Think of it like this. You’re the judge, and your executor is your executioner.”

“What about the jury?”

“What do you need a jury for if there’s already a bloodthirsty monster ready to kill everyone in sight standing in front of you. You just kill it,”

“Were your parents not hunters?” asked Dae-Ho

The question made Jean shift in his seat a bit.

“No, I don’t know what happened to my parents,”

Donny slapped Dae-Ho’s arm carrying a message of “why’d you ask that?”.

“Sorry to hear about that,” Donny said.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to hit a sore spot,” Dae-Ho added.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,”

“So, why’d you enroll now then? You’re like fifteen or sixteen right?” asked Dae-Ho

“Is it weird for someone to enroll that late?”

“Yeah. Most kids are enrolled here from the age of four,”

“Why so young?”

“Well, that’s when our potentials begin to develop. So we get tested, and if it’s a potential that’s good for hunter’s we get enrolled here,” replied Dae-Ho.

“Did you two ever have a choice? To come here I mean,” asked Jean.

“Not really. My parents were stereotypical Asians. They wanted me to be a doctor, so when they found out my potential was suited for this and not that, they thought the quickest way to get rid of me was to send me here.”

“Do you still keep in contact with your parents?”

“Haha, no. They ghost me, so I guess I don’t really have parents either,”

“Sorry to hear that,”

“Haha, you’re good. I’ve been like this for the past twelve years, so it doesn’t bother me much,”

“What about you Donny?”

Donny put his fork down and leaned back in his chair.

“You could say I had a choice. My dad was a hunter, and my mom was a nurse. Dad died hunting down a beast with his team. At that time I was four, so my mom was scared that I would end up having the potential to be a hunter. Sure enough, her fears came true. She didn't want to send me because she didn’t want to lose me as well. But, I kept whining and complaining. I guess in the end; she saw too much of my dad in me. So, she reluctantly sent me here,”

“But weren’t you only four? She could have just scolded you and kept you from coming, right?”

“Who knows why she let me come. It seemed like it would be a bad topic to bring up with my mom, so I never do. But I don’t regret coming here. Even though I might not have known the truth about the world when I was four, I don’t think I would have been able to do anything else,” Donny said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Why are you two sharing this stuff with me? I just met you,”

The two laughed briefly.

“We’re training to fight things that can kill us at any moment. I don’t think there’s a point in hiding who we are when there’s the chance that we might die at any time. I’d rather have people know me than for me rather than become another tombstone with a name on it. Dae-Ho and I had talked about this before, asked each other the same thing when we first met.”

Dae-Ho nodded in agreement.

“I guess you’re right,” Jean said.

“So what about you Jean? Did you have a choice?”

There was a moment of silence.

“No, not really. To be honest with you, I don’t even know if I should be here. I don’t know much about this hunter stuff and compared to everyone else. I’m completely inexperienced. I guess I was just put here because there was nowhere else I could go,”

“Guess we’ve all had it rough in one way or another,” said Donny.

“But that’s what makes us human right?” asked Dae-Ho.

Jean hesitated to chime in, but something in his heart said that it might be worthwhile to trust in these guys.

“Yeah,”