Chae Saebyeok had always been good at reading people.
He was the kind of person who came with plenty of desirable traits.
“Oh wow, is this the kid…?”
“Senior! Do you remember me? I’m Noeul’s friend!”
“Hey, you said you have a younger sister, right? Mind introducing us?”
People who are admired tend to attract a lot of hungry, covetous gazes.
Naturally, they learn to choose who they allow near them.
That’s how one’s intuition for people sharpens.
“I heard there was a shuttle accident? Are you okay?”
“…I just had a bad feeling, so I walked that day.”
And when things truly became dangerous, his instincts would scream—
saving him from trouble again and again.
“I’ll hold them off as long as I can, so climb up…”
So when they’d faced the wolves, his heart had trembled with fear,
yet some unconscious part of him believed they would be okay.
“I didn’t know why back then…”
But now he did.
Facing a whole pack that looked seconds away from lunging, he had instinctively gathered a strange power—
what he now knew was a “skill”—at his fingertips.
And just as he was about to fire it—
“Are you all right?”
A man had suddenly appeared.
…We’re screwed.
The intuition that had saved him countless times shrieked in alarm.
Was it because the newcomer was armed?
If they accepted him as a companion, if they received weapons from him…
That was what had run through his mind when he agreed to let the man join them.
“I will make sure you are never harmed.”
Then the man had offered his hand—
to Saebyeok’s younger sister.
In that instant, something flickered in the man’s eyes—an emotion Saebyeok couldn’t place—
then quickly vanished.
And in that tiny moment, Chae Saebyeok realized something.
…Yeah. We’re seriously screwed.
He realized he had made the wrong choice.
The same cold, eerie feeling he’d had right before major accidents crawled up his spine.
He had no idea what that man was thinking or planning.
But one thing was certain.
We need to separate from him as soon as possible.
Before something happens.
Saebyeok clenched his teeth without anyone noticing.
And now—
Even with his sister pulled behind him, Joo Yeonwoo’s gaze still lingered on Chae Noeul.
He watched her for a moment, as though weighing something, then met Saebyeok’s eyes.
“That’s unfortunate. I thought we’d gotten close. Haven’t I been useful?”
“Yes, I know you’re competent and well-suited for this situation.”
That’s the problem, Saebyeok thought.
If Yeonwoo were useless, they could just ditch him and run.
The problem was that he was too capable—
capable enough to chase them down if he wanted.
Saebyeok clicked his tongue internally and glanced at one of his own skills.
<Danger Sense (B) – Passive>
<A sixth sense. Instinct extended almost to the level of faint future sight.
Instinctively detects danger.
Always active. Consumes no mana. >
When he realized, from the system, that his intuition was now an actual skill, he felt like he was walking on thin ice.
This is… on another level.
His intuition hadn’t reacted this intensely even when wolves were charging at them.
Yet near Joo Yeonwoo, it had been blaring nonstop.
“But that’s separate from whether you’d hurt us or betray us. You may not think it, but I’m someone who worries a lot.”
At Saebyeok’s words, Yeonwoo let out a quiet “Ah,” as if something clicked.
“Now that you mention it, you always stood between me and Noeul. You tried to keep my attention on you, and you stayed awake all night. Yes… you do seem to worry quite a bit.”
“…You stayed awake all night?”
“…If a guy pretends he woke up just as I’m waking up, maybe just let him have it, okay?”
No sense of gratitude at all, huh?
Saebyeok ruffled his hair in annoyance before continuing.
“Anyway, back to the point—
I trust you two.
I know you two very well.”
…‘You two’?
Something about the way he phrased that felt off.
Muttering internally, Saebyeok replied,
“Because you’re a fan? You think you know me just from social media or whatever the news says?”
“No.”
Joo Yeonwoo chuckled softly, as though he’d heard something amusing.
The sound was far too relaxed for their current situation.
“At the very least, I know you better than that. That’s why I’m making this offer.”
“…Fine, whatever. Then that just leaves one thing: us trusting you. Think that’s possible?”
“That’s difficult.”
Yeonwoo let out a dry laugh.
His pitch-black eyes drifted past Saebyeok’s shoulder—
and met Chae Noeul’s, who had been peeking from behind her brother.
“I have no intention of killing you. On the contrary, all I want is to keep you alive. So it feels a bit unfair.”
With a faintly sad expression, he raised both hands slightly.
He was practically ignoring Saebyeok and speaking directly to Noeul, which made Saebyeok’s brows knit together.
“Very well. I’m used to proving myself. I’ll give you all my weapons. I’ll only use them against enemies and only with your permission. When you feel you can trust me, return them.”
“…”
As Saebyeok hesitated, his sister poked his back several times.
He nudged her with his elbow, silently asking what. She whispered,
“Accept it.”
“Why?”
“We can’t demand anything more than this. Push him harder and you’ll just create hostility. It’s better to compromise when someone chooses to step back instead of pushing forward.”
Yeonwoo still had his skills, and maybe more abilities they didn’t know about.
They had no idea how a real fight would end—but he was strong.
Even if they won, they’d probably be seriously injured.
And yet Yeonwoo wasn’t forcing anything.
He was offering a penalty to himself…
among other things.
“For now, let’s accept it. It’s too risky for just the two of us to move alone. Neither of us knows anything about survival.”
This…
Saebyeok couldn’t help muttering in frustration,
“…I’m doing all this because of who, exactly?”
“For you?”
No—
for both of us, obviously.
Her expression clearly said that, and Saebyeok couldn’t hide the grimace on his face.
This dense idiot…
“Anyway, think rationally.”
“…Yeah, yeah.”
He let out a long sigh.
Objectively, Noeul was right.
The problem was that his Danger Sense was screaming.
“Have you decided?”
“Yeah.”
A bad feeling alone couldn’t change reality.
…Even if we try to separate from him eventually, the priority is getting out of here alive.
He hated ambiguous situations, but he had no choice.
In the end, Chae Saebyeok let out a short, resigned sigh and held out his hand.
“Give me your weapons. We’ll stick together.”
“A wise decision.”
Yeonwoo handed him the sword.
Saebyeok looked down at it with a complicated expression and sighed again.
They had a long, long road ahead of them.
After that dramatic round of negotiations, we ended up sitting together again in a loose circle.
“I’m buying water.”
“Hurry up. I’m thirsty.”
Chae Saebyeok spent some of his points to buy several bottles of water.
We were all parched, so each of us emptied one in no time.
Ignoring Saebyeok whining about only having one point left, I turned to Joo Yeonwoo.
“How much food do we have left?”
“It’ll probably all be gone today.”
“If we want to do anything, we need to earn points…”
Whether we wanted to reach the second floor or just live like actual humans, points were essential.
Even on the rough hand-drawn map Yeonwoo had recreated from memory, there weren’t many marked locations.
“Yeonwoo, do you remember anything else from the map?”
“No, nothing in particular… I think there were more supply boxes, but I don’t know their exact locations.”
“Then should we focus on hunting? If we find a supply box while hunting, great—but as long as we earn enough points, we don’t have to rely on them.”
“Yes. Earning points through hunting is best. Let’s expand outward from the base, little by little.”
Once we settled on that plan, I elbowed Saebyeok lightly in the side.
“Do you sense anything nearby? Wolves, other things moving?”
“Hmm… There wasn’t anything earlier. I’ll try using the skill.”
He briefly closed his eyes to concentrate—
then suddenly snapped his gaze in one direction and shot to his feet.
What’s wrong?
Before I could ask, he muttered sharply,
“…It’s a person.”
“What?”
“Someone’s being chased. They’re heading this way fast.”
“How many?”
“One. The rest are wolves.”
After focusing for another moment, Saebyeok grabbed his bow and bolted.
“They’ll be here soon! That way!”
“Aren’t you giving us weapons?”
“I’ll see! Follow me!”
“Chae Saebyeok!”
He sprinted toward the edge of the clearing.
I hurried after him, weapon in hand, with Yeonwoo right beside me.
As we reached the boundary between flowers and trees, we heard wolves barking in the distance.
“They’re coming.”
“Help! Please help!”
It was a young student’s voice.
Between ragged breaths, she cried out desperately for help.
Soon, her panicked figure stumbled out from between the trees—
and right behind her, the pack of phantom wolves barreled toward us.
“This way!”
I shouted, activating my skill.
