“I told you a quest appeared.”

When he opened his mouth, Jaehee, Sa-yoon, and even Rai looked at Geon-joo sitting on the bed. Sa-yoon raised one eyebrow as if telling him to say more. Geon-joo recalled the quest text that he still remembered clearly. He had ruminated on it so much that he could recite it without a single error even without specifically trying to remember.

“When I was at Night Rats, a quest appeared. I don’t know why it appeared, but it said if I wanted to know about the Guild Master, I should proceed with the quest.”

He deliberately presented uncertain information as definite. He thought this approach would allow him to observe more accurate reactions.

Sa-yoon, who had been tapping the metal chair, now ran his fingers over the chair’s backrest as if scratching it. The gesture was strangely familiar. For some reason, it felt like going back to their first meeting, seeing Sa-yoon handling pliers again.

The tension was just like back then. Just as Sa-yoon seemed ready to strike his head with pliers back then, now he gave off an aura like he might pick up the metal chair and strike Geon-joo’s head if things went wrong. And since Sa-yoon was truly capable of such behavior, Geon-joo swallowed hard. For some reason, his throat was dry, and he swallowed once more.

“So it said if you want to know about me, clear the quest.”

Sa-yoon narrowed his eyes as he repeated this, as if he’d heard something ridiculous. Then he turned his head to look at Jaehee.

With a slight jerk of his chin, Sa-yoon signaled, and Jaehee nodded with a smile. Seeing them seemingly confirming something in this manner right in front of him—something he couldn’t even guess—Geon-joo tightly clenched his fingers.

It was unpleasant.

The sight of these two people exchanging signals he couldn’t comprehend while he was right there was unpleasant and, to put it more strongly, sickening.

I told you. If you had asked me, wouldn’t I have properly answered you?

So why are you seeking confirmation?

He knew Sa-yoon didn’t completely trust him and suspected him because of his escape, but actually experiencing this fact in such a manner didn’t feel good at all. Petty emotions kept surfacing, raising their heads.

Is that person so trustworthy?

Even knowing that revealing these emotions now wouldn’t do any good, his dissatisfied gaze was directed at Jaehee when:

“What kind of quest was it?”

Sa-yoon asked, as if deciding to believe him. His eyes still held a bit of doubt, like wariness. Geon-joo answered with a breath that was almost a sigh.

“The First Step to Activate.”

When he answered without hesitation, Sa-yoon’s eyes wavered for an instant. After showing that momentary falter, he quickly regained his composure as if nothing had happened, feigning indifference, but Geon-joo, who was tenaciously observing to catch any special reaction from Sa-yoon, didn’t miss that moment of vulnerability.

I knew it.

The quest name “The First Step to Activate” wasn’t particularly special. If one heard it without any prior information, they would just think “oh, there’s such a quest” and move on—nothing to be surprised about or consider special. Yet Sa-yoon reacted. This meant he knew something about this quest.

A trail was appearing. It was like seeing the trail of a case he had been pursuing for a long time.

“It said a new disposition was discovered. The name of the disposition wasn’t revealed, but to activate it, I first need to become S-class by clearing a gate. Initially, I wasn’t going to pay attention to it, but the reward was quite unusual, so it caught my interest.”

Throughout his calm explanation, Geon-joo, despite his collected voice, scrutinized the man’s expression with persistent eyes. Finding this uncomfortable, Sa-yoon glared at him as if telling him to ease off and warned him with a sigh, but Geon-joo didn’t back down. At this stubborn attitude, Sa-yoon frowned, but the more he did, the more obstinate Geon-joo’s gaze became. If not now, he would miss the opportunity again. Geon-joo had no intention of letting go of the chance he had grabbed after being slapped five times.

“‘The True Evil of Humanity.'”

“……!”

“It said if I clear the First Step to Activate quest, it would create a gate with that name as a reward. This appeared when I was curious about you, in a quest offering to resolve my curiosity. Do you perhaps know what the True Evil of Humanity is?”

“……”

Sa-yoon was surprised and remained silent at the following words. From this selective silence and non-response, Geon-joo could gain complete certainty.

So there was indeed a connection.

That ‘True Evil of Humanity.’

It was something related to you.

He smiled inwardly. His judgment wasn’t wrong. In the past, Geon-joo had made this judgment and decided to carry out the quest.

In a situation where Sa-yoon wouldn’t reveal anything, the only source of information for Geon-joo, though suspicious, was the system. So if he wanted to know about Sa-yoon, he had no choice but to proceed with the quest. If he wouldn’t talk, what else could be done except to find out on his own?

That’s why Geon-joo decided to proceed with the quest that day. He knew what the survival instinct mentioned by the system was.

[Survival Instinct (SS+)]

• Your sharp instinct will save you from danger!
• Suggests escape routes in crisis situations twice per day. When a route is accepted, escape is guaranteed regardless of stats. (However, if there is a difference of more than two levels between you and your opponent, it may fail with a certain probability.)
• When feeling difficulty in survival, agility increases by 100% for 1 minute. Afterward, you will enter an exhausted state for 10 seconds.
• When activated, muscles are strengthened.

It was his exclusive skill that he had seen on the status window immediately after becoming an awakened one. Using this skill to find a gate meant that if he used the Survival Instinct skill while having this quest, a designated gate for the quest would open. That’s how it could be interpreted.

He needed to create a situation where he could use this skill.

However, Geon-joo couldn’t leave the Night Rats building due to the surveillance of guild members, and Sa-yoon, being busy, didn’t come to see him and had gone somewhere. In this abandoned situation, there wasn’t much Geon-joo could achieve on his own. So Geon-joo decided to escape. For the quest, for himself, and even for Sa-yoon, escape was the most rational choice.

To be honest, if he said to Sa-yoon, “I’m trying to dig up information about you, so please cooperate,” would he be the type to cooperate? He would be the type to say, “Oh really?” and then confine and monitor him to prevent any mischief. That wouldn’t change no matter how much time passed. Sa-yoon didn’t trust him and simultaneously didn’t want to tell him anything.

He and Sa-yoon were stagnant. To make this stagnant relationship flow again, change was needed.

“You told me to explain exactly why I ran away in a way you could understand. Honestly, I think I’ve explained enough. As you know, we went in circles for a long time without progress. People rarely gain insights and change on their own unless they receive a significant shock from outside. That’s especially true for someone like you, Guild Master.”

“So you’re saying you ran away to shock me?”

Sa-yoon’s tone became harsh. Geon-joo calmly nodded.

“More precisely, I realized change was necessary and I provided that change. I thought you wouldn’t change on your own. If I had clung to you back then, crying and begging you to honestly tell me why you killed Noah, would you have told me? Or if I had threatened to kill myself and demanded the truth when we returned after clearing the field, would you have become honest? Or even if I had quietly taken the time to talk calmly and sincerely persuaded you to be honest, do you think you would have spoken?”

Sa-yoon didn’t answer the cascade of hypotheticals and questions. Geon-joo let out a hollow laugh, as if saying “see?” while fiddling with the tissue in his hand.

“Well… No matter what I did, the Guild Master back then would have maintained silence. Just like you’ve done all along. Because you don’t trust me and you’re afraid of me knowing the truth.”

“……”

The person facing him went quiet as if struck at a vital point. Even though it was something he knew and had guessed, getting such confirmation from him this way made his stomach churn.

What was there to be so distrustful about?

If anything, I would have distrusted you more. What were you so afraid of? What kind of secret were you harboring?

Though troubled, he lifted his head and met the other’s eyes. Because it was frustrating, because he wanted to know, because he wanted the relationship to change, he had accepted and cleared the quest.

Thanks to that, a path to discover more about him had now opened.

If he had found a clue in the past, now he was at the entrance of the path.

Geon-joo slowly opened his mouth.

“That’s why I ran away. If you’re somewhat conservative and afraid of change, it’s right that I, who am a bit younger and can somewhat be excused as immature, should change something, isn’t it?”

At that time, the most drastic change Geon-joo could make in their current relationship was to leave Sa-yoon’s side. It’s natural to see things after losing them. If he was inhibiting Sa-yoon, and if Sa-yoon was trying to block his view, it was rational for them to leave each other’s sides to see the world.

So, Geon-joo removed the pair ring and used the Survival Instinct skill. He detected a crisis in the situation where Night Rats guild members were monitoring him, making it impossible to escape outside.

It was like using a loophole, and the system seemed to know it too, saying the Survival Instinct was abnormally applied as it transported Geon-joo. When Geon-joo, enveloped in a strong light, opened his eyes, he found himself on some road. He could hear water and feel humid air on his skin. There, Geon-joo met Sa-yoon.

That’s when he realized.

Now that he was officially escaping from him, he needed to use the Survival Instinct skill.

He realized this was the scenario the system wanted. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have moved him to where Sa-yoon was.

What kind of plan are you drawing?

He couldn’t guess at all. What picture was the system painting? Thinking this, Geon-joo began his escape.