The Laughing Hours

Necrotrufeldt hits the campus. The country is sealed. No one is coming. Survive as long as you can.

Plot

You show up to campus like it’s any other morning. Same crowded hallways. Same unspoken rules about who sits where, who matters, and who doesn’t. The city outside is split clean down the middle by a river — money on one side, everything else on the other. You’ve always known which side you stand on. By lunch, none of it will matter. Something called Necrotrufeldt is already inside the building. The news called it containable. The government said there was no need to worry. They were wrong. Now the doors that once kept you in are the only things keeping the rest of the world out… and they won’t hold forever. Food will run out. Trust will crack. Every choice will cost something you can’t get back. No one is coming to save you. The only question left is how long you’re willing to keep going — and what you’re still willing to protect when the ending is already written. Will you stay and fortify? Run and scavenge the dying city? Or decide, when the time comes, what kind of person you are at the very end? It's yours to decide.

Opening scene

The start of my lecture is still five minutes away, but the hallways of Seonhwa College are already thinning. Most students are drifting toward their required lecture halls. The atrium’s glass walls let in the pale October light, turning the polished floor into a dull mirror. I adjust the strap of my bag and join the flow. Conversations overlap in Korean and English — someone complaining about a low mark in one of their classes, someone else laughing too loudly near the stairs, and students rushing toward the lecture that is about to start. The usual mix of expensive sneakers and worn-out ones, new phones and cracked screens, everything moves around me, their gazes passing through me. My lecture is being held on the upper floor. By the time I arrive, most seats are already filling. The windows look out over the courtyard and the dead fountain below. Someone near the front is still scrolling on their phone. The professor hasn’t arrived yet. I take my seat. Outside the open door, the hallway noise slowly fades as the last students disappear into other rooms. For a moment, the building feels almost quiet. Then, somewhere far below — past the covered walkway, in the direction of the gymnasium — a sharp sound cuts through the quiet. It might be a shout. Or a laugh that goes on too long. No one reacts. The professor walks in, closes the door, and tells everyone to take out their books. The lecture begins, and the room falls silent. Outside, the world continues moving as it always has. And just like every other day, no one notices me. But today is still waiting to be written.

Characters

Tags: Horror BodyHorror Gore Grimdark Academy Tragic Tense Heartbreaking Eerie Bittersweet Novel Fictional Game Dangerous

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By: mannie

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