"What do you desire... If someone asked you this... how accurately do you think you could answer it?"
".....I would like to say I know what I want, but honestly, I don't really know either."
"Exactly... rarely is there someone who knows what they want... and I think this is exactly what makes us humans unique. We are a species without any purpose... without any specific task... We live just because we can. Hahaha... and die because we can't anymore."
"Hmmm! Does that mean there isn't any meaning to our existence?"
"What do you think?" the lady asked, a curve forming upon her lips.
-Excerpt from an interview by Rey Michal.
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"Shit, don't want to be late on the first day," A man whispers to himself, looking at the clock.
8:43… was the time. About an hour and fifteen minutes later will be his first day as a teacher.
He wasn't originally a teacher but a soldier serving his country… but after seeing blood and death firsthand, he was sure this wasn't a life he could live forever.
It wasn't something that he could do so after much thought he decided to give up.
Some would call it cowardly, some would call it a disservice to the nation, but the man understood that what he did was necessary. What he did was needed for him to survive.
It was something necessary he had to do to maintain his sanity.
Taking the last bite of the sandwich, he quickly moved out of the house and arrived at the bus stop.
A minute or two later, the bus arrived, and together both of them began moving toward their destination.
A few minutes later, the bus reached a bridge as the man looked out of the window, admiring the reflection of the sun on the water's surface.
Smiling, he unlocked his smartphone and began to look at the file the college had sent him a day ago.
'So this is the list of students I will be taking care of for a month…' He read, finding quite a bit of information about the students on the list. While scrolling through, a student caught his attention.
'She is here…' he thought, finding it hard to believe that someone of her standing was studying at this not-so-great college.
Who knows, let's not think about it... Not probing into others' matters, he scrolled past her and reached the end of the list.
So, all in all, there were a total of 43 students who had signed up for this outdoor survival program... quite a lot compared to what he was expecting.
Impressed by the number, the man turned to the list again. This time, instead of just skimming through it, he tried to remember some of their names.
Aside from the names, there were some other student's details mentioned in the files. One such piece of information was their hobbies. As a teacher who would be teaching them about extracurricular activities, he had access to this information as well.
With quite some interest, he began reading about their hobbies…
Iris likes studying plants... Elysia likes singing... Hugo wants to be an author…
Contrary to his expectations, there weren't many students with interesting hobbies… in fact, most of them hadn't filled out this section. The ones who had written things liked reading mangas, watching anime, and movies of sorts.
All in all, they were generic answers.
After remembering a few of their names, the man closed his phone and began enjoying the silence. Time passed, and soon enough, he found himself standing in front of the college gate.
9:39... Looking at the time, he heaved a sigh of relief. There were still twenty minutes left before class.
"ID, please..." Seeing a new face, the watchman asked for identification.
"You can go…" Confirming his identity, the guard let him enter.
After walking a few meters, he looked around, impressed by the scenery of the environment. Everything was neat and clean, with quite some focus on greenery.
"I assume you like your new workplace?" Hearing the voice, the man looked around and found an old man, almost in his sixties, walking toward him.
"Ohh! Yes, Director. Quite a lot, in fact," he replied, smiling at the man in charge of this whole college.
"Thank you… thank you. It's all thanks to my wife," the director answered, nodding his head.
"I can understand."
"So, you're going to your class, I assume?" the director asked.
"Yes, sir…" he replied with a slight hint of nervousness.
"You nervous about your first class?" the director asked, smiling.
This wasn't the first time the director had seen this scene. In his long career, almost every teacher had been nervous about taking their first class.
Would my teaching be to their liking? How will the students behave in class? Can I match their expectations? All sorts of questions formed in their heads.
At this point, the director would've been more surprised if the teacher appeared normal.
"As you can see… there is some tension," he replied, smiling.
"There's no need to worry. Our students are very disciplined. Just go with the flow, and there won't be any issues," the director advised, patting him on the back.
"I hope so…" he whispered, chatting with the director a little more before parting ways with him.
Moving around, he found the class, and with a slightly faster-beating heart, he entered it.
Let's just take it slowly… Letting out a whiff of air, he moved toward the board and opened his mouth.
"Good morning, everyone... my name is Gareth Mille..." He was about to introduce himself to the class when suddenly a ball of light materialized in the middle of the room.
"Huh! What is this..."
"Ouch! What is this intense light..." Closing his eyes the student in front of the ball shouted.
In an instant, the classroom filled with the murmurs of students.
"Everyone, calm down..." Gareth was about to reassure them when suddenly the ball expanded, and before anyone could understand what had happened, it encompassed everyone present in the class.
Boom!
The sound of a slight explosion reverberated through the room. The ball of light vanished, and everything returned to normal... only this time, no one was left in the classroom.
All of them had vanished into thin air.