Chapter 1

I am timid by nature but have this strange sleep disorder where I immediately fall asleep when scared. However, what nobody else knows is that after I fall asleep, a split personality will awaken and take over my body. That split personality is also prone to violence.

When I was eight, a fierce dog scared me so much that I fell asleep on the spot. When I woke up again, the dog was whimpering in a corner, clearly terrified of me.

When I was 17, a robber accosted me. When I opened my eyes next, he was clutching a police officer's legs as he begged to be taken away and thrown into jail.

All these years, I have tried my best to remain calm, so no other accidents happen again.

That is, until I enter university and am placed into the same dorm room as the campus hunk, Theodore Caldman.

During the welcome party, he corners me in the equipment room. With a pair of scissors in hand and a malicious smile, he says, "You always dress so tackily, yet you still dared to hit on my girlfriend? I'm going to ruin that pretty face of yours! Let's see how you'll seduce others again!"

My legs turn to jelly, and I stammer out, "I-I'm not the sort who likes to cause trouble, but if you scare me so much, when I fall asleep, things are going to get real ugly…"

He punches me in response. "What's with the tough guy act?"

With that, my eyes roll back as I fall asleep.

Theodore barely gets a smug laugh out when I suddenly spring up from where I was prone on the floor.

Even though my eyes are still shut, I seize him by the neck and lift him into the air with one hand.

Ten minutes later, the security guard kicks open the door to the equipment room, only to see a beaten and bloodied Theodore, kneeling on the ground and singing nursery rhymes.

Meanwhile, I am leaning against the wall off to one corner, snoring softly.

Chapter 1

When the security guard kicked open the door and saw this odd sight, he hastily took several steps back, as though he had seen a ghost.

There was a stir among the crowd before my childhood friend, Selena Shandler, shoved her way through the throng of people and rushed into the equipment room.

Upon hearing the commotion, I snapped my eyes open.

When Selena's familiar face came into view, I sighed in relief and called out in a sleepy voice, "Selena, he was using a pair of scissors just now to—"

Before I could finish speaking, the sound of hurried footsteps rang out.

The campus hunk, Theodore Caldman, had lunged forward to grab Selena's arm before hiding behind her.

Putting on a terrified expression, he said, "Selena, save me! I just wanted to ask him why he kept harassing my girlfriend with text messages, but he suddenly went crazy and started beating me up! He even wanted to kill me with the scissors!"

I was surprised at his move. It figured that a manipulative pretty boy like him would play the victim first.

My eyes shone with anxiety as I turned to look at Selena. "I didn't do that! He was the one who attacked me first! I was just so scared that my illness acted up, I fell asleep, and—"

"That's enough!" Selena cut me off with a disgusted sneer. "Michael Lund, you've been putting on this act since we were young. Aren't you tired of it yet?"

She shot me with a superior look, her gaze cold and distant. "There's no medical illness that will cause someone to turn into a violent maniac when afraid. If Theo hadn't reminded me of that fact, I would've been deceived by a liar like you for the rest of my life."

I froze on the spot, my fingers slowly curling into tight fists by my side.

Selena was my childhood friend. Due to my special disorder, I had always thought of myself as a monster since young, which led to me becoming insecure and isolated from everyone else.

It was Selena who had put herself between me and the world. "You're not a monster. From now on, I'll protect you."

Now, however, my protector was standing across from me, defending the person who had wanted to hurt me.

I raised my head just in time to catch the taunting smile Theodore shot me from where he was hiding behind Selena.

In that moment, countless scenes flashed through my mind.

Back during the beginning of our freshman year, Selena had been busy helping me wipe the table and closet before moving on to placing the bedding.

Watching it all happen from the side, Theodore uttered darkly, "Michael is such an average-looking guy, so why does he get to have such a gorgeous babe wait on him?"

After that, Theodore didn't waste time in joining the student council. From then on, he kept finding or creating opportunities to spend time with Selena.

Eventually, Selena started to stand me up more and more often as time went on.

Saddened at this change, I confronted her about it, only for her to answer me impatiently, "Could you not be so unreasonable? I'm the student council president, so what's wrong with me looking out for a new member?"

Taking in how close the two appeared now, I suddenly found it all rather ludicrous.

The whole "looking out for a new member" thing was nothing but nonsense. It was clear that the two of them had gotten together behind my back long ago and were now simply using me as a prop in their little games.

Chapter 2

The next day, the university forum was in an uproar.

Theodore had uploaded his medical injury report and crafted a woeful tale that painted him as the victim. He claimed that I had failed to seduce his girlfriend, Lana Quill, and in my embarrassment, had turned my anger on him and beaten him up badly.

Almost immediately after that, the student council posted an official announcement.

"Due to Michael Lund's disorderly conduct and the serious disruption it caused, he is hereby issued a major demerit and will forfeit all conduct credits for the current semester."

The announcement had been signed off by Selena, the student council president.

On my way to class, everyone I passed by kept whispering to each other while pointing at me. Someone had even dumped my course textbooks into the trash bin.

Instead of kicking up a fuss or getting angry, I simply calmly retrieved my textbooks, dusted them off, then headed straight for the student council office.

Selena was sitting at her desk, signing some documents. At my arrival, she furrowed her brow in a frown. "What are you doing here? Don't you think you've humiliated yourself enough?"

I looked her in the eyes as I said, "There are surveillance cameras in the equipment room, but you didn't even check them before posting that announcement. What you did was abuse your authority to cover up for Theodore."

Selena scoffed and replied, "The surveillance cameras aren't working. Michael, if you head to the broadcast station now and publicly apologize to Theo, I might consider rescinding your punishment."

At that moment, the student council vice president, who had been playing games on his phone off to one side, suddenly lifted his head.

There was a confused look on his face as he said obliviously, "Huh? The surveillance cameras aren't working? That can't be right. The Campus Services Office just changed all the cameras on campus to 4K high definition cameras with night vision capabilities last week. I would know, since I was the one who signed off on it."

I whipped my head around to stare at Selena, who tensed at the revelation. A panicked expression crossed her face, and she couldn't bring herself to look me in the eye.

A wave of revulsion rose in me, threatening to bring my breakfast up with it.

As it turned out, she already knew everything. She had been well aware that the surveillance cameras weren't broken. In fact, she might have even seen the footage already, yet she still chose to help Theodore ruin my reputation and future.

"Selena Shandler, you truly are a disgusting person."

With that, I spun on my heel and left the office.

Not only had I failed to resolve this matter, but I had even learned the truth that left me simmering with anger.

After glancing at the time, I realized that I needed to get to class first. Collecting evidence could wait a little longer.

…

That afternoon, during our compulsory swimming class, our teacher had to attend a meeting, so he left us to practice by ourselves.

Once I had changed into my swim trunks, I headed for the pool, only to see Theodore and his girlfriend, Lana, standing at the edge near the deeper end.

Lana was a sports major, so she had the powerful build of an athlete. Upon spotting me, she stormed over to me and demanded, "Are you Michael Lund? You were lucky that I wasn't there yesterday. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have let you off the hook so easily!"

Theodore placed a hand on her arm, saying gently, "Forget it, Lana. He just lost himself for a moment. There's no need to hold on to a grudge about it."

When he finished speaking, he turned to me with a look in his eyes that was filled with such malice that I shivered.

Before I could wonder about the sudden change in attitude, he seized the opportunity while I turned to grab a towel to land a hard kick on the back of my knees.

My legs buckled, sending me crashing straight into the deep end of the pool.

Just as I struggled to get to the water surface, a kickboard abruptly pressed down on my head.

Theodore stood by the edge of the pool while stepping on the kickboard with all his might, a twisted smile curving his face.

Water gushed into my nose and mouth, and as I began to suffocate, an overwhelming terror consumed me.

I struggled violently in the water, causing my heart rate to spike all the way to 180.

Then, my eyes rolled back, and I fell asleep.

Chapter 3

The water suddenly calmed.

Theodore, whose foot was still pressed down on the kickboard, let out a triumphant laugh. "And here I thought that you would struggle a little longer. Is that all you have?"

However, he didn't get to bask in his victory for long, as a hand abruptly burst from the water and seized him by the ankle.

"Ah!"

He was only able to get one surprised shout out before the hand tugged hard, forcefully dragging him into the deep end of the pool.

Under the water, my split personality had now taken full control over my body. My eyes were closed as my hand clamped around Theodore's neck and pinned him to the bottom of the pool.

Outside the pool, when Lana saw what was happening to her boyfriend, she yelled his name before jumping into the water to save him. She swam over to me and raised a fist, ready to punch me.

My eyelids didn't so much as twitch as my free hand snapped out to grab her wrist. Subsequently, I pinned her to the bottom of the pool as well, her muscled figure still no match for my split personality.

The rest of the class was utterly dumbfounded at the rapid turn of events.

Several minutes later, I swam back up before tossing the unconscious Theodore and Lana out.

Walking over to Lana, I placed my hands on her chest and began to perform CPR on her.

However, I failed to control my strength well, so with two loud cracks—the sound of bones breaking—Lana spat out a mouthful of water before letting out a shrill scream.

At the same time, Theodore slowly regained consciousness.

The first thing he saw upon turning his head was the sight of Lana clutching her sunken chest while screaming horrifically. Meanwhile, my eyes were still shut as I got ready for the next round of compressions.

Utterly terrified, Theodore scrambled back and cowered in a corner. He pointed a finger at me, his teeth chattering so violently that he couldn't even form a complete sentence.

"Madness… He's… a monster… Monster!"

Selena arrived at that moment, having received a report from one of the students. Taking in the scene before her, she hastily rushed over to shove me aside. "Michael Lund, you absolute maniac!"

Her shove sent me crashing to the ground somewhere off to the side, and the back of my head slammed into the tiled floor. The sharp pain drew a gasp out of me as my eyes flew open.

I was somewhat shocked at the results of my actions while asleep, but as I stared at the scumbag couple screaming on the floor, I had to admit that they had simply gotten what they deserved.

The swim class incident blew up.

Theodore teamed up with Lana and insisted that I be expelled, which led to the university promptly holding a public hearing.

As the student council president, Selena was present too. She self-righteously proposed, "Michael Lund has severe violent tendencies, so for the safety of everyone on campus, I suggest that he be immediately expelled."

When I heard that, I felt as though I had plunged into icy waters.

No matter how biased Selena was, we had still grown up together! Yet now, for Theodore's sake, she was truly serious about destroying my life.

Just as I was about to throw caution to the wind, a young man suddenly stood up in the gallery.

It was Howard Zinch, my other roommate. He was usually a quiet, timid guy, so Theodore would often order him around to do things for him.

"U-Uh, hello…" He held his phone high before he continued speaking, "I was tidying things in the equipment room last night and accidentally left my phone there. It just so happened that I recorded this video…"

Though his voice shook, his tone was firm.

Once he had connected his phone to the large projector screen, he played the video.

The video clearly showed the events of last night—Theodore wielding the scissors as he insulted me and threatened to disfigure me, then my helpless figure falling to the ground pitifully as I fainted.

Chapter 4

When the video finished playing, the public hearing venue was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

The cheerful campus hunk persona Theodore always put on had been ripped away, revealing his true colors.

A cacophony of whispers broke out in the gallery.

"Holy shit, how very wicked of him! Using a pair of scissors to disfigure someone's face?"

"Didn't he claim that he was the victim when he posted that article on the forum before? Turns out he was just flipping the script!"

All color drained from Theodore's face, and his lips trembled faintly as he protested weakly, "T-that must be edited! He must have used AI technology to put my face there! I never did that!"

However, all those who had once thought he was a harmless guy with a sunny disposition and who had insulted me on his behalf were now silent as they shot him dirty looks.

That had Theodore panicking, and he instinctively grabbed Selena's arm. "Lena, help me explain to them! Tell them that I'm not that sort of person!"

Selena's expression was stony, but she still braced herself and stood up for him. "That video could be purposely edited to skew the truth. Theo has always been a sweet guy, so there must be some sort of misunderstanding here—"

"Misunderstanding, my ass!" a furious bellow cut off Selena's words.

Lana stood at the doorway, her complexion pale as her hand clutched at her freshly reattached ribs. She was originally supposed to be resting in the hospital, but for the sake of personally witnessing my expulsion, she had forced herself to come.

Unexpectedly, not only was I not expelled, but she had even gotten a front-row seat to such a wonderful show.

Lana's eyes grew red as they locked onto Theodore's hand on Selena's arm. "Theodore Caldman, you'd better fucking explain! Why are you addressing her so intimately? Just what is the relationship between you two?"

She had a short temper, but that didn't mean she was a fool. Her boyfriend's first reaction upon running into trouble wasn't to seek her out, but to go to another woman. It was more than obvious that something was going on between the two of them.

Just as the scene was about to devolve into a confrontation between the official girlfriend and the other woman, the student affairs advisor quickly stepped in to restore order.

A panicking Theodore hastily let go of Selena and rushed over to appease Lana. However, when he turned to glance at me, the look in his eyes was even more malicious than before.

The public hearing concluded that I had only acted in self-defense, so I wouldn't be punished for it.

On the other hand, Theodore was issued a major demerit for disorderly conduct.

Although the video had proven my innocence, it had also recorded the strange scene of me lifting Theodore into the air with one hand while my eyes were still closed.

That resulted in rumors spreading across campus that made everyone think of me as a monster they couldn't afford to piss off.

Nonetheless, I wasn't bothered. Being a monster was much better than being a doormat everyone could walk all over anytime they pleased. At least nobody dared to cut in front of me when I was queuing to buy food anymore.

Time flew by, and soon, it was time for our finals.

I had to have the worst luck ever, as Theodore's seat just so happened to be beside mine.

A bad feeling rose in me when I realized that, but the exam was more important than anything else, so I shoved down my nervousness and focused on answering the questions.

Halfway through the exam, a ball of paper landed by my feet.

Before I could react, the proctor overseeing the exam had already stopped in front of me. Her eyes were sharp as she ordered, "Pick up the item by your feet."

At the table next to mine, Theodore curved his lips into a triumphant smirk.

I frowned, wondering what he was up to this time. Was he trying to frame me for cheating on the exam?

The possibility that that was his real motive actually had me relaxing. After all, our handwriting was completely different.

Picking up the paper ball, I handed it to the proctor.

She opened it up, her expression instantly darkening when she saw writing on it. "Not only did you bring a cheat sheet into the exam, but you even dared to pass it around right here in the exam venue?"

Theodore raised his hand and loudly proclaimed, "Ma'am, I saw Michael stuffing paper slips into his pockets when I came in here before the exam started!"

Immediately, everyone's attention was focused on me.

The proctor frowned and flipped the paper over, but just as she was about to read out what she thought would be a cheat sheet, she suddenly froze. She eyed Theodore with a strange look on her face, then glanced back at the paper.

"Ma'am, what are you waiting for? Quick, read it out loud so everyone can know what he wrote down!" Theodore urged impatiently.

The unease in me swelled further as I noted how eager he seemed. After all, if it had been just a cheat sheet, the proctor wouldn't have had such an odd expression.

As my mind whirled with chaotic thoughts, the proctor read out the words written on the back of the cheat sheet.

"Dear Lana, head to the hotel opposite the campus after the exam is over. I'll be all cleaned up and waiting for you."