"Haruno...?" an elderly voice echoed as he opened the front door to the house.
"Harunoooooooooo?" he called again, stepping inside.
He looked around the house meticulously, checking each room with methodical care before climbing the stairs to Haruno's room. He knocked once, then slowly opened the door. Empty.
"Not here, huh..." he exhaled deeply, brushing his fingers through his graying hair. "Where is that boy?"
He pulled out his phone and dialed.
[THIS NUMBER IS UNAVAILABLE. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER…]
'Out of service, are you? There aren't many places you could go to pull that off... and no calls from him yesterday or today...'
His lips thinned as he closed the door gently behind him. He walked down the stairs and called Haruno's teachers. None had seen him since yesterday.
'If I'm not mistaken, yesterday, today, and tomorrow… that's the Rank Evaluation Exam. The one where LHS students enter the Gate…'
He wandered toward the bathroom, unzipping his pants.
'I hope you didn't do anything foolish, Harun—'
Then he froze.
Looking down into the toilet.
A photo. His photo. Stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
'…'
For a long second, he just stared.
Then, quietly, he smiled.
He reached down and plucked the soggy image out with two fingers, then flushed the toilet.
"Well," he muttered as he examined the ruined picture, "I guess he's just confused…"
But there was a twitch in his cheek.
"…Still, as the caring uncle I am… I have to steer him right."
His voice softened, but his gaze sharpened.
"Though to disrespect me that much… I see, Haruno. Fine. If that's how you really feel…"
He rinsed the photo under the faucet, gently straightening it out like a precious artifact.
"Then stay out. Go to anyone. Try them. You'll see…"
A pause. A smile.
"No one understands you like I do."
He stared at the photo.
"And when you come crawling back on all fours…"
His eyes gleamed.
"…I'll welcome you. Because we're family."
Knock knock.
A soft, hesitant knock at the door.
His head tilted.
"…Ah? Who might that be?"
He walked to the door and opened it.
"Ah—!" His face lit up. "Misaki! What a pleasant surprise. Haven't seen you in a while!"
"H-hello, Mister Wren," she said, bowing politely, her voice small. "I-is… Haruno home…?"
"I'm afraid I haven't seen him. Would you like to—"
"T-then…" she interrupted, swallowing hard, eyes shifting nervously.
"…Is something wrong?" he asked, gentle as ever. "Why aren't you at the trip to the gate?"
"There's something I need to tell you," she said.
"Something he did to me…" Her hands trembled. "I... I didn't go to the gate, because I wanted to report it to the police. But... I wanted to come to you first our of respect."
'Haruno. I'm not sure what came over you... Maybe you've gotten confused a little.' She bit her lips.
Her voice cracked.
"…He…"
'But I'm going to make sure... You don't pull that shit with me again. I... I OWN you...!' She clenched her teeth, recalling the heat she felt, the way her heartbeat skyrocketed when he pinned her to the wall.
A shadow passed over her face.
"…raped me."
====================================
"Haaaah..." Yuuto exhaled, a white puff of breath rising in the cold air.
He lay atop the still-warm corpse of a bear monster, surrounded by a grotesque sea of fur, fangs, and blood-soaked snow. Over a hundred bodies stretched into the treeline, steaming as they cooled in the winter forest.
Not a single scratch marked him.
His clothes, however, were another story—torn at the sleeves, shredded at the hem, soaked with blood that wasn't his.
He looked up at the sky for a moment, eyes half-lidded, before turning his head toward the imaginary camera.
'You're probably wondering why this massacre was offscreen. Let me explain.'His voice was dry. Almost bored.
'Remember how I pretty much one-shotted their boss monster? Yeah… that bastard did, what, 5 HP with his strongest hit?'A pause.
'So the lesser ones? They couldn't even injure me. The worst they did was tear my clothes.'He glanced down at his uniform, gave it a tug. A whole sleeve slipped off like paper.
'All I had to do was swing. Hit. Next. If they blocked, I just swung harder. My light jog's airplane-speed now, so… yeah. Not really a challenge.'
He exhaled, brushing a blood-splattered thread off his collar.
'At first it was kind of exciting. Killing bears, hurling myself at them, bouncing off trees. I even tackled a rock once.'
He paused.
'Honestly, the rocks here are less sturdy than the bears.'
'But after the 70th kill… it just got boring. It still looked cool, sure. But when you can't get hurt, when there's no real tension, even dodging starts to feel pointless.'
He opened his item menu with a flick of his finger.
Still 0 coins.
No coins. No loot. No skill-up.
'Figures... Haruno only ever got those from fighting monsters and killing enemies at his level range. And items—'
He turned his eyes to the treeline, distant and quiet.
'Those only drop from boss monsters.'
He let out a deep sigh, then pushed himself up into a standing position.
'Welp, guess it's time to head out. I saw what I needed here regarding my powers—and got a nice light workout.'
He dusted himself off casually.
'Thankfully, the author of the manwha got lazy with how dungeons work, so finding the next one's gonna be easy.'
With that, he walked forward, slipping through the last line of trees and stepping into the open plains.
'Just follow the glowing purple orb in the sky.'
His eyes narrowed slightly.
'Boss monster's beneath it. Probably where the school trip is heading, too.'
=================
"He… really did kill six!" The schools echoed with gasps as students watched Murasaki emerge from the exam arena; the bodies of all 6 bear monsters lay charred and burnt.
"Got a nice workout… whew." Murasaki wiped his brow, glancing at Aya.
'It's really me,' he thought. 'The main character of this world.' He imagined himself atop the world, Aya beside him in minimal clothing, feeding him like a loyal servant.
He grinned to himself—a little too long, a little too wide. Aya shuddered. Something about that smile made her skin crawl.
Meanwhile, Kiril sat in a world of her own. Her eyes rested on Hojin, lying unconscious on the bleachers.
A part of her hoped he wouldn't wake up.
Because he was right.
Haruno, while attentive, was needy—and spineless. It wasn't until Hojin said it out loud that she admitted it to herself:
'Would a life with Haruno even go anywhere?' Maybe, just maybe, she could've accepted his flaws…
'If only he didn't like that girl who strings him along like a toy… That CYKA, Misaki!'
And then there was that other thing—what Hojin said about him being a hunter.
'It was just cheering. I was just cheering for Hojin once. It wasn't even loud enough for anyone to hear, so…'
She clutched her chest.
'Why do I feel like shit…?'
Her cheeks flushed as she realized—she was the only one sitting next to Hojin's unconscious body.
She glanced around.
"Kiril's really considerate, huh…?"
"It's no secret Hojin hates Haruno. Wonder why he's watching over him?"
"Well, end of the day, it's Hojin. We're here because of him."
"Then why don't you go sit?"
"Come on, that'd be weird."
'It makes it seem like I care about him…!!'
'No—I'm only here to hear if he'll spill my secret…'
'If he does… then he's right. Me and Haruno… we'll drift apart.'
Her hands curled into fists.
She frowned.
"In a forever platonic relationship…" Hojin's voice echoed in her head, and she bit her lip again.
'I don't care about this pig. Hojin's just a bully. He's just a bully…'
"Good… girl…" Hojin's voice startled her as he stirred awake.
"I saw… you cheered."
"...."
"So that means you're keeping my secret, then?" Kiril's voice dropped into a whisper.
"Oh, yeah..." Hojin exhaled like a man waking from a long nap. "But we do need to talk about where we go from here, right? I wouldn't want to... misspeak on accident." He smirked.
'That мудак... the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up is blackmailing me!?'
"I DID WHAT YOU ASKED...!" Kiril whispered sharply.
"Hey, hey... I'm just being considerate here…"
He rubbed the back of his head lazily. "I banged my head pretty hard when I fell. We might need to go into an…"
He swallowed.
"…In-depth conversation in my tent later tonight." The way he whispered it made Kiril's skin crawl.
Just then, Sakuya's gaze wandered to Kiril's flustered expression—catching a glimpse of Hojin's wicked smile.
She sighed.
She remembered that moment earlier—Hojin walking away from where Kiril was changing—and Sakuya's own casual lie: "No one saw me."
'I don't have time for this shit…' She turned away, though unable to hold her click of a tongue as she recalled Kiril's expression.
'... Whatever. When she sees what we're gonna do to those monsters... I know that'll cheer her up.' She told herself.
Then—
Kiril laughed.
"Man... You think this is some porn manga?!" She let the words slide through clenched teeth.
"In your dreams. I'm done—"
A student passed by just then. Hojin leaned in, tone casual, almost playful:
"Hey, did ya know Kiril's a girl?"
Kiril's face went pale.
"Huh..? What are you saying, Hojin-san?" The student scratched his head, confused—but Kiril could already feel his eyes trying to piece it together.
"Hahaha, look at you. So naive. A joke, a joke…" Hojin laughed it off as Kiril froze in place, her eyes down, breath catching.
"That bastard just used his mother's perfume instead of aftershave this morning..."
"Ah, haha. That's funny…" The student gave a half-laugh and walked off.
Hojin sighed dramatically.
"Haaah… What's wrong? Don't appreciate those kinds of jokes? Is it maybe because you don't have parents?"
Kiril didn't respond. She just sat there, trembling.
"I see…" His voice dropped lower again.
"That's important. You see now why we have to talk these things through…? In depth-ly?"
"...."
Kiril pressed her lips together, trembling. A soft sniff escaped her.
The audio was clear.
Crystal clear.
On the other end, not a single soundwave slipped through.
[IMAGE]
[Daaamn… You know, now that you say it, it kinda sounds cute. If you don't mind me saying…]
Yuuto exhaled as he turned off the phone.
'Be honest now,' he thought, gaze narrowing.
'Did you really think I wouldn't use an eavesdropping device?'
'That I'd walk in completely blind into a dungeon—in a world that, from start to finish, is hellbent on torturing the main character?'
He leaned back slightly.
'Back when I first reincarnated, literally the first thing I bought was a bug. Then I just had to figure out who to plant it on.'
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
'Knew placing it on NTRBully #42 was the right call.'
He sighed.
'Make no mistake, though. Whether or not he's responsible for what happened to Kiril in the manwha, how she died… Kiril doesn't deserve this.'
His mind replayed their exchange in the classroom.
'I'mma baseball your ass,' he decided, Hojin's face forming clearly in his mind's eye.