“Siloque, so what?”
Beiren typed away on the computer without even turning her head.
“What?”
“Are you planning to go on a date with me first, or hang out with your friend?”
“It has to be you, Beiren. What’s so hard about that? Even if the end of the world came, I’d have to go on a date with you first.”
“Hmph, as long as you understand.”
These days, Beiren no longer bothered to complain about Siloque always skipping class.
“Speaking of which, Siloque…”
“Yeah.”
“..No, never mind.”
“If you want to say something, I’ll listen seriously.”
Siloque stopped working on the Ring Chart document plan for this.
“Really, it’s nothing. I think it must be my imagination.”
“Mm…the feeling of you leaving me hanging is nice, too.”
Siloque didn’t press further, continuing to type.
Beiren took a sip of cold coffee.
She just felt…uncomfortable.
Like waking up in the morning and seeing the sky had turned pink.
That person named “Cass,” Siloque’s friend.
She couldn’t pinpoint what was strange or give any evidence, but her common sense told her there was something odd about that person.
Worrying for nothing.
Beiren shook her head.
If they really were genuinely close with Siloque, why was she thinking so much about it?
She tossed the thought aside and brought up another question: “Why did you have to choose the infirmary for a secret meeting? Couldn’t you just find a corner of the library or a secluded rooftop?”
“Because you’re the second person I trust, Beiren. The infirmary is actually better for keeping secrets.”
“Oh….”
Beiren tried to hide her fluttering heart, and her typing speed on the computer picked up—but so did her typos.
“Wait… second trust?”
She suddenly realized.
“My little sister, Dad and Mom—they’re my first trusted family.”
“By your standards, does that mean to become your most trusted, someone has to—”
Siloque’s emerald eyes narrowed playfully and intimately, grinning: “Just become my family.”
“Idiot. You’re thinking way too far ahead.”
Beiren grabbed the neck pillow from the chair and threw it.
Siloque caught it easily.
She glanced at the time displayed at the bottom right of the screen—
“So, it’s tomorrow. Our bet.”
“Oh—have you decided on the winner’s reward?”
Beiren seemed to think of something interesting and smiled:
“Who knows, let’s decide after the results.”
“What about being my girlfriend?”
Beiren left the swivel chair and walked over to Siloque, looking down from above:
“Look forward to it.”
***
10:30 PM.
Click.
The key twisted in the door lock, turning several times before the stubborn lock finally opened.
Cliff squeezed his broad body through the door—no easy feat.
Whoosh—
An empty liquor bottle flew at him from the front.
Cliff caught it skillfully and tossed it onto a broken black garbage bag at the entryway.
“What the hell are you doing back here?!”
A man’s roar came from deep in the living room, a man labeled “Father” on his guardian form.
Mother, exhausted, said nothing as she picked up the trash.
The bruises on her face were from both Father and Cliff.
The garbage bag had holes, and the trash on the floor could never be fully cleaned up, but she still kept picking.
The family had never been well-off.
Father lost his job when Cliff was in elementary school, and things only got worse from there.
Mother had been a proper young lady from the countryside, but she cut ties with her family to marry Father.
After Father lost his job and stopped working, Mother, naive about the world, did odd jobs she wasn’t used to, barely earning enough to cover utilities.
Cliff headed straight to his own room.
Black mold stained the walls, yellow and green splotches of who-knows-what, and the only thing in the empty room was a relatively clean blue carpet.
He lay down on it, hands behind his head.
He hadn’t wanted to come back in the first place.
He’d just been discharged from the hospital, his money spent down to negative, and he had no friends he could rely on.
Genolo had quit the hospital three days ago as if she’d planned it, and disappeared.
Cliff felt no emotion.
He knew they’d meet again someday.
Lord, watch over us both.
He hadn’t earned much in the Dungeon today.
The exchanged crystal cores paid some hospital fees, and the rest was just enough for food.
His appetite was much larger than before, but Genolo said it would normalize after a while.
Robbery was nice and all, but with his current appearance, Tuners could spot him from blocks away.
“Heh.”
Cliff wasn’t in a hurry.
After several real fights in the Dungeon—or rather, one-sided crushings—he’d learned to control his emotions and his physical control had improved.
Even if he’d only absorbed power from hospital patients, his strength was now extraordinary.
Tomorrow, he’d finish the duel with Cass quickly, then go after Siloque.
The usual plan—wait until he went down to the Dungeon.
Find the perfect moment to shatter him, torment him, and then bury him completely.
After dealing with Siloque, he’d start over.
There had to be a way to cure ED.
With his skills, joining a veteran Explorers team, clearing three floors would be nothing, and he’d earn money fast.
With money and power, those weak strays would gather on their own, and it wasn’t impossible to grow from a team into an organization, then into a large Guild.
Still, he had to focus on school.
After graduation, he could join a better Strategy Group and earn even more money, more fame—he was going to be the center of the world!
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. When sin is repaid, one can enter the Golden Land.”
Cliff recited the words Genolo had taught him.
He felt an unprecedented confidence, his future filled with hope.
Dreaming of better days, even the moldy smell of the room felt pleasant.
He’d never come back to this garbage temporary lodging again.
For now, he took a final few breaths of this lower-class stench.
***
“Siloque is still so unbelievable, brother.”
Cassia sat by Cass’s hospital bed, using the Ring Chart to read the document Siloque had sent.
The information about swordsmanship caught her attention, as if it could be combined with the sword techniques Hertanid had shown her before.
But the only response to her monologue was the varied sounds of the medical machines surrounding Cass’s bed.
“I used to think this a lot, but later I actually got used to it…well, maybe not completely. I have this strange feeling that as long as I trust Siloque enough, there might be nothing we can’t do?”
No answer.
“Sorry…that sounded too familiar, just pretend I didn’t say it.”
She turned off the screen on the Ring Chart.
Cass on the bed breathed steadily, eyes moving beneath closed lids—probably dreaming.
Cassia had previously asked Hertanid to check on her brother Cass’s condition and got the conclusion—
—I do not know. Your brother is normal. It’s just that he does not wish to wake up—
Not much different from the doctors’ results.
Cassia felt neither hope nor disappointment—she truly was used to it.
“Tomorrow I have to fight Cliff with my teammates. Brother, please wish us victory. Ah, if you woke up, maybe you’d see us beating up Cliff!”
Cassia smiled lightly, helping to smooth Cass’s bedsheet.
She stroked the Ring Chart in her hand.
“…Sorry, Siloque. After all, I think this plan is better.”
After much thought, the girl put the Expulsion Ring back on the ring finger of her left hand.
She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the city’s nightscape, put on her Bluetooth earpiece, and dialed a call through the Ring Chart.
***
Clouds covered the moon at night, but the dojo lights were bright.
Bried wore only hot pants and a sports bra, swinging a bamboo sword alone in the spacious dojo.
Reshaping the body through the mind.
With the mindset to face battle, everything became different.
From breathing to footwork, vision, and thought—
Everything would be rebuilt into a battle-ready state.
Even the way she used her muscles changed—almost like becoming someone else.
In battle, she focused her mind and body to the limit.
This was the introductory training of martial arts.
Remembering past teachings, she was already drenched in sweat, with puddles on the wooden floor.
Whump—
With the final powerful swing, Bried stopped after four hours of continuous practice.
She felt the muscles in her arms, confirming she was ready and in top form.
Her well-trained physique looked like the masterpiece of a sculptor, each detail captivating.
Had the shame from that day in the classroom been washed away?
Had that scum Cliff been punished?
Tomorrow’s battle would decide it all.
Bzzz—
Sensing the vibration of her Ring Chart, Bried answered the call:
“Hello, Cass, what’s up?… What?”
***
Today, Kersey left work earlier than usual.
“Whew…”
In her attic room, wearing long-sleeved pajamas, Kersey knelt on the wooden floor, hands outstretched toward the object before her.
In front of her was a small, waterless bathtub containing a green Gel Product, bouncing as if alive.
It was said to be a product reprocessed from Slime fragments, highly sensitive to magic.
Kersey manipulated the faint green magic she emitted, continuously reshaping the gel.
Sometimes a sphere, sometimes a cube, sometimes a cup.
This training had started last month.
Though she couldn’t mold it more intricately no matter how hard she tried, the process eased her stress, so she didn’t dislike it.
“Tomorrow’s the day… Is this level really okay…?”
Training to control magic precisely—this method was taught by Cass’s mysterious teacher and was said to reduce excess magic loss during healing.
She was nervous.
Whether she could escape her nightmares depended on tomorrow’s duel.
She had a vague sense, considering her middle school experiences, that losing wouldn’t end well.
Suddenly, electronic rock music filled the room.
Kersey’s phone rang, instantly loosening her tense nerves, causing the gel to go limp.
“Business at the shop is so busy. Did Aunt call me?”
She picked up the phone and looked at the caller—”Cass?”
***
Tomorrow was the day of the test.
Siloque dried her hair, read a few volumes of “Lucky Star,” then lay on her bed and flattened the pillow.
All her past efforts and exploration were for tomorrow—to take down Cliff smoothly.
And then to go on a date the day after.
Siloque was in perfect condition.
She even refused her little sister’s invitation to play games, and didn’t give in when her sister begged to sleep together.
At 9:30, she went to bed early.
She closed her eyes, using her ability to fall asleep in 30 seconds, and entered a state of deep sleep.