“Uugh…”
“Noeul!”
I felt a hand grab me.
I lifted my head—then immediately flinched and curled in on myself when I saw the number floating between his face and mine.
Just before I folded over, I briefly caught a glimpse of Chae Saebyeok shouting something in the distance.
“…It’s okay…”
It’s fine.
Chae Saebyeok is alive.
I held myself up on shaking arms as my body threatened to collapse.
And I clenched my teeth.
Black eyes came into view.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 500 Points]
The number had finally stopped rising.
Chae Saebyeok rushed over, calling my name.
“Hey! Chae Noeul! Are you okay!?”
The familiar voice finally let me breathe.
But Joo Yeonwoo stepped in, blocking Saebyeok from grabbing me right away.
“Are you all right? Fortunately, it seems Chae Saebyeok took care of the rest of the monsters—”
“…Hey, Joo Yeonwoo.”
My head creaked as I turned to look at him.
He was standing beside me, guarding only me.
He had killed one human. Two wolves.
Unless he had some kind of clone ability, that was the unchanging fact.
“Are you hiding something from me?”
But the game—
and the system governing this place—
said he had killed many.
He gained points because he killed humans.
And those points appeared in front of my eyes.
There was only one possible conclusion.
“I’m not hiding anything.”
The man looking at me with such a worried expression right now—
this man had created the scene of carnage where so many died.
He earned points for himself.
He planned this disaster to gain points.
How?
Since when?
Was that even possible?
A storm of thoughts roared through my mind.
“…Is that so?”
“Yes.”
But no matter how many times I turned it over, all my thoughts pointed to the same answer.
I clasped my trembling hands together to hide my shaking fingertips.
“Then that’s fine.”
No matter what—
I had to get away from this man.
A chilling, vivid fear wrapped around my ankles
and slowly crept upward.
Seven dead, five injured.
Not long after, four of the critically injured died.
By the time the sun rose the next morning, only nine people were still alive.
Final tally: eleven dead, one injured, nine survivors.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 700 Points]
After seeing that, I decided I would stop opening the analysis window.
I felt like I would break if I kept looking.
In any case, the cult leader and the believers were all dead, and except for one, all the students survived.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I should be the one asking. You look like that and those are the words that come out of your mouth?”
Chae Saebyeok’s coat was soaked in blood—completely ruined.
He gave me an awkward grin and shrugged off the destroyed coat.
“I’m fine, I’m fine!”
“Then that’s good.”
When I fell quiet, he started sneaking glances at me.
Why’s he hovering around me? Go check on the kids or something.
“Oh right, I figured out who the teleport ability user was.”
“Who?”
“Dohwa’s friend. Thanks to them, things ended faster.”
“They knew about their skill?”
“No? Looked like it came out unconsciously when they were about to die. After they did the teleport thing, I was yelling ‘Status window! Status window!’ and giving a lecture on the spot. They looked at me like I was insane. You should’ve seen it.”
I snorted.
Yeah, that did sound ridiculous.
“Anyway, thanks to the tag, we can probably buy one movement permit… Yeonwoo should be able to buy his too. What about you? Are you gonna have to go hunting—?”
The moment his name left his mouth, my lips tightened.
I still had no idea why Joo Yeonwoo killed people—
whether he enjoyed it, whether it was for necessity, or some third reason.
Thrill killer?
Sociopath?
Or something else entirely?
Whatever he was, someone who used people so easily was not someone I should stay with.
“Hey, about us—”
As I carefully started to speak, a familiar soft voice came from behind.
“You were here.”
“…!”
“Oh? What brings you here?”
Joo Yeonwoo sat naturally beside me, smiling gently as he pulled something from his coat.
“I found this inside the supply box the cult leader was keeping.”
“What’s this…?”
It was a transparent stone—like red glass carved with strange patterns.
He told us to take one. The moment it touched my hand, a system window appeared.
<Acquisition of 2nd Floor Movement Permit confirmed>
<Residency rights on the 2nd Floor granted>
<Floor transfer will begin in 3 days. Please prepare!>
A small popping sound rang out, and the stone dissolved into nothing.
I glanced over—Chae Saebyeok was staring blankly at his own hand too.
“So this is the movement permit…?”
“Yes. The moment I picked one up, the same message appeared for me as well. There were exactly three. Aside from that, there were various supplies… looks like he had them hidden away.”
I briefly activated the Analysis Eye and felt a tiny, bitter flicker of pride at my own quick reflexes.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 200 Points]
So he’d spent them.
Well, of course. He couldn’t openly use points he’d earned by orchestrating murder. It made sense he’d create this excuse and spend them beforehand.
Meaning: the points he had left now were only those gained from his direct kills and actions.
“What else was inside?”
I wanted nothing more than to end things cleanly and safely with this man, but unfortunately, that wasn’t an option yet.
Unbearable.
Fine. Let’s at least see what he spent the points on.
I asked with a bitter taste in my mouth, and he handed me a thick book.
Bound in leather, heavy, expensive-looking—covered in the same curly symbols as the writing on the tree.
What?
The moment I looked at it, the letters became readable.
[Beginner’s Guide to Magic]
“…Beginner’s Guide to Magic?”
“Yes. I thought it would suit you far better than me.”
Why are you spending your points on me?
“…Thank you.”
This was confusing.
What was he thinking?
And the confusion only deepened.
“So with Dohwa’s and mine and yours combined, that makes four movement permits, right?”
“Yes. It seems we can buy four. If we get enough points for two more, all six students should be able to move up.”
“We should hurry. The changing numbers on that middle tree, and the way the light is filling up—none of it looks good.”
“Yes. I assume it’s a timer of some kind. No idea what’ll happen when it reaches full, so we shouldn’t waste time.”
“Dongwoo’s more used to his skill now! I think he can teleport much farther!”
Joo Yeonwoo was surprisingly cooperative when it came to helping the students.
More precisely:
not enthusiastic, but not obstructing them either—willing to help whenever they asked.
The complete opposite of before, when he tried to stop us from rescuing the kids.
“…What the hell?”
Based on how he’d acted back then, I thought he might abandon them even after saving them.
Did he suddenly change his mind?
No. That didn’t seem right.
“Seriously, what the hell?”
My confusion only worsened when one cheerful student, listening to my vague grumbling, confidently declared:
“You don’t know? I think I do.”
“What?”
“When someone who’s cold to everyone else is nice only to you, there’s only one reason! He likes you!”
…Insane.
So he kills people because he likes me?
Obviously I couldn’t mention the murder part, so I swallowed my disbelief and asked:
“Then why is he being cooperative with everyone else?”
“So they don’t suffer! See? Didn’t your workload get lighter after he started helping?”
“Less work…?”
I slowly replayed everything that had happened over the past few days.
“Hm…”
He told me to focus on studying magic, and went out with Chae Saebyeok to handle everything else.
If Joo Yeonwoo hadn’t been doing the work?
If that meant he wouldn’t have enough points?
“…Then Saebyeok would’ve done it instead.”
Because otherwise, everyone might die.
And as much as I hated to admit it…
Are you in pain?
Please rest.
I’m glad you weren’t injured.
…he really did treat me with an oddly special level of care.
Come to think of it, even that night—he had prioritized defending my position first.
“See? I told you there’s something! Something’s definitely there!”
How long had it even been since I’d met him? And he fell in love with me?
He’d been like this since the very first day.
If that student was right, then that meant the man had fallen in love with me at first sight.
“Come on, seriously! I know everything about romance!”
…Right.
No matter how I looked at it, that inexplicable man did not seem like the type to fall head over heels at first glance.
There had to be another reason.
“Okay, okay. Just get back to work, Dohwa’s friend.”
He hadn’t actually helped much, but he had listened seriously instead of brushing me off like I was talking nonsense. That alone was enough that I didn’t want to dump the rest of the truth on him.
“It’s Dongwoo. Lee Dongwoo!”
“Sure, sure.”
Once Lee Dongwoo left, I sat under a tree and opened the book.
Unreadable symbols—hovering between understandable and incomprehensible—lined the pages.
A reason. There had to be a reason.
He didn’t feel like someone who lived purely by emotion.
A logical reason made more sense.
A rational reason for wanting to look good to someone he barely knew.
Think logically…
“Usefulness… maybe.”
Investing in someone useful.
That was a reason I could accept.
But…
“Am I… useful?”
I didn’t think I was particularly useful.
For the last few days, all I’d done was throw around Energy Balls like a second-rate mage.
“What the hell…”
Maybe he has a gamer brain and worships mages?
Considering how he’d said, ‘I’d prefer if you prioritized studying magic,’ even as he dragged Saebyeok around doing tasks…
He might genuinely have a fantasy or obsession with magic.
Which means… if I become useful in that regard, maybe he won’t kill me so easily.
And since he seems to care about our “relationship,” he might even spare those around me.
“It’s not certain, but…”
If I show real talent in magic, he’ll need me.
And if he needs me, he’ll keep Saebyeok alive too.
And Saebyeok himself is a solid fighter…
I tried my best to spin all of this into something positive.
“…Let’s do our best.”
In the end, I couldn’t be sure of anything.
Which meant I had to get stronger.
Strong enough to defeat him.
For my own survival—
and for that damned biological older brother of mine.
Resolving myself, I silently clenched my fist.
