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“Dead? All of them?”

A mansion standing tall in the center of Seoul brightly shone in the night.

Kim Sukho was in his study decorated with a luxurious chandelier and silver candle stands. He was writing something with his expensive pen when he received a disturbing report.

— Yes, some of them were strong ones on par with high rank heroes…

All of the people they sent to tail Kim Hajin ended up dead. It was definitely Kim Hajin’s doing.

Kim Sukho bit on a cigar and didn’t say anything else.

— We suspect that all of them were discovered while tailing the target and lost their lives. Fortunately, we’re certain that they didn’t spill anything before dying.

“I see…” Kim Sukho muttered with a nod, but the wrinkle on his forehead showed that he was visibly angry. “What a stubborn kid…”

All of the people they sent were found dead with their necks twisted, hearts pierced, limbs torn apart, and other hideous methods. It was hard to believe that a cadet at rank 934 in Cube was capable of killing people in such a gruesome manner.

— Yes, we suspect that this kid has been hiding his strength all this time. We cannot confirm the reason as to why, but we have no doubt that Kim Hajin is far stronger than we initially believed.

“Tsk…”

That was one thing, but Kim Sukho couldn’t help but feel this kid was far too hot-headed. How could someone mercilessly kill in such a gruesome manner just because they were following him? Did he simply hate being followed to the point that it would trigger him or did he harbor strong hatred against someone and he simply vented it out on those he caught following him?

“Did you find anything else about him aside from that?” Kim Sukho asked.

— We are currently doing our best, but it’s quite difficult to get anything about him. He seems to be guarding his identity quite well.

Kim Hajin was an orphan who graduated from the Military Agent Academy before proceeding to enroll in Cube as a cadet. That was the end of it. His records from his days at the Military Agent Academy showed nothing special. The only interesting thing from his records at Cube was the fact that he chose to use a gun.

“Continue observing him.”

However, Kim Sukho was certain that the boy was hiding something. It was also possible that he was hiding a terrifying weapon under his sleeve. Kim Sukho couldn’t help but suspect that the boy was harboring some evil intentions deep inside.

— Yes sir.

The call ended.

Kim Sukho felt like he was missing something right now. The background check on the boy only produced a few lines. The only eye-catching thing about it was the fact that he was an orphan.

Kim Sukho intently stared at the date the boy entered the orphanage and the calendar on his table.

***

Tak…! Tak…! Tak…! Tak…! Tak…!

The rain and wind knocked on the window. The typhoon raged outside, but only the calm sound of rain could be heard inside the villa.

I watched the natural disaster unfold before deciding to open a window.

Kkhrwaaaang! Kkhhhrwaaaa!

I immediately closed the window.

Tak…! Tak…! Tak…! Tak…! Tak…!

As expected, the villa’s soundproofing was excellent.

“What are you doing?” Chae Nayun approached me and asked.

I simply shrugged in response.

Chae Nayun nudged me and showed me her smartwatch.

— There is a storm raging on the east coast. The downpour is so strong that the bridge connecting Jonghwa Island to the mainland is already submerged…

“They say the bridge is underwater now,” Chae Nayun said.

It seemed that our other means of leaving the island aside from the portal had disappeared as well.

“Yeah, I heard.”

“I don’t think we have a way out today. We should give up on leaving and go eat something. They said the food is ready,” Chae Nayun told me.

I went to the dining hall with her. Numerous chairs surrounded the long table in the expensive-looking and brightly lit room.

“You have no idea how glad we are to see you after such a long time, my lady. All of you are our young lady’s friends, right? Please enjoy your meals. Hoho…” the aunty in charge of the villa warmly welcomed all of us.

The guests, or rather us cadets, were comprised of our five club members and seven freshmen. All of us sat at the table.

“Thank you for the meal!”

The eating started after Hazuki, someone I was acquainted with, thanked the aunty for the food.

— In preparation for the sea water overflowing in land… bzzt… bzzt…!

The TV disconnected while we busily chatted over our meal. Then the lights went out.

“Just stay calm and wait,” Chae Nayun said before she shot her mana towards the ceiling.

A cozy blue light illuminated the dining hall and allowed us to finish our meal without a hitch.

All of the cadets gathered in the living room. They huddled up on the sofa or on the floor in front of the fireplace to keep warm. Nobody wanted to be alone right now. It was as if all of them instinctively knew that danger was lurking somewhere nearby in the corner.

“Hey, Nayun. I recall you saying that you had a training area in the basement, right?” Kim Suho asked.

“Yeah, there’s a training area down there. Go ahead and use it if you want,” Chae Nayun replied.

“Do you want to join me?” Kim Suho asked.

Chae Nayun stole a glance at me before shaking her head, “Nah, I’m good. Go and have fun with Yeonghan.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Yi Yeonghan stood up and stretched.

Yoo Yeonha peacefully sat on a rocking chair and sipped on tea like a grandmother.

“Alright…” Chae Nayun stood up and scanned the room after the training-crazed duo left.

She snapped her fingers and thought of a brilliant idea.

Tak!

“Shall we play a game?”

***

“The culprit is… you! Kim Hajin!”

We played a game that suited numerous people, the Mafia game.

There was one police, one doctor, six civilians, and three mafias for a total of eleven players and seven had already died.

Chae Nayun pointed at me with absolute confidence.

I was in complete disbelief. I mean, she was right that I was the mafia, but she needed a sound reason to back up her statement.

“Your reason is?” I asked.

“Hazuki will explain that. It’s no use if I explain it as you guys are probably suspecting me as well,” Chae Nayun nonchalantly replied.

Hazuki, who was a civilian in this round, flinched in surprise. “Huh? But… Hajin is… the doctor, right?”

“Ha? Why is he the doctor? I’m the doctor,” Chae Nayun retorted.

“What? R-Really…?”

“Of course! I, Chae Nayun, am the doctor and that guy is an impostor!”

I observed Chae Nayun before looking around at the people in the game. I scanned from left to right, and one more time from right to left.

“T-Then… do you have anything you wish to say, Hajin? I have to listen to both of you first…” Hazuki asked me.

I suddenly sensed something strange and a tingling sensation traveled down my spine as goosebumps rose all over my body.

“Hey, wait a minute. We started with one police, one doctor, six civilians, and three mafias, right?” I asked.

“Hahaha! Look at him changing the subject!” Chae Nayun cackled.

Yoo Yeonha squinted her eyes and looked at me full of suspicion, “Yeah, he’s talking nonsense all of a sudden. I think he really is the mafia. Let’s kill him.”

On a side note, Yoo Yeonha was also a mafia.

“No, listen to me first. A total of eleven people joined this game, right? Night came twice, so four died…” I said.

There were five Pharmacy Club members and seven Cube cadets in the villa for a total of twelve, but Kim Suho and Yi Yeonghan went down to the basement to train.

Then, I asked in a whisper, “… Shouldn’t there only be ten of us?”

I could feel the hair on my neck stand.

Yoo Yeonha frowned and glared at me before thinking about it. Then she let out a scream and clung to my arm.

Chae Nayun suddenly shouted and stuttered, “T-T-T-That’s right! He’s right! There should only be ten of us… but how…?”

Hazuki’s face turned pale as she immediately started counting. There were only ten of us right now including the active players and the ones who died, but we were quite sure that we started the game with eleven players.

Kkhrwaaang!

Thunder erupted and all of us looked at each other with fear on our faces. There were supposed to be ten of us, but we started the game with eleven people and then went back to being ten.

Kkhrwaaaaang!

All of us were frozen stiff from the fear.

Kkraa… Bam… Bam… Baaaam…!

A loud sound caught our attention while we were all frozen stiff from fear. We ran to the window and saw the dike crumbling. This shocked everyone.

Hazuki shouted first, “Ah! Look! Look over there!”

There were rescue workers near the dike that crumbled. All of us looked at each other and knew what we needed to do.

The cadets opened the windows and rushed out, “We’re Cube cadets! We’ll help you!”

Some of the cadets channeled their mana and supported the crumbling dike while the others pushed the raging water back.

I stood at the back and watched the cadets bravely fight the natural disaster since I couldn’t use mana.

“… What is this feeling?” I muttered under my breath and tilted my head in confusion.

I initially wondered why the color of the water looked so dark. The water pushing through the dike was pitch-black like a shadow.

I took a closer look and realized that it wasn’t pitch-black like a shadow, but it was a real shadow. A huge creature approached us from underneath the water.

“… Huh?”

That was the only sound that came out of my mouth.

Chwaaaaak!

Eyes as big as the moon and a jaw large enough to take a bite out of the heavens emerged from the waters. It was a colossal whale.

“…!”

The colossal whale wanted to devour the cadets, but they instantly reacted and evaded the creature’s attack.

However, Chae Nayun wasn’t so fortunate and couldn’t escape. She was at the front and focused all of her mana to keep the dike intact. The colossal whale was a step faster than her.

I immediately activated bullet time and the world around me slowed down. I didn’t hesitate one bit as I threw aether towards her and wrapped it around her waist, but the whale’s next actions were completely out of my calculations.

Shwwuuuup!

“W-What’s going on?! Aaaaack!”

Chae Nayun lost her balance as I pulled her with aether, but she was still vacuumed into the colossal whale’s mouth.

I was connected to her through aether, so I was also dragged along with her into the colossal whale’s body…

***

Pat… Pat… Pat…

I could feel the rain dripping in this damp environment. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Chae Nayun’s face.

She let out a sigh of relief after seeing me open my eyes, “Ah… that’s a relief…”

However, she soon frowned and smacked my forehead.

“Hey, are you a troll? I could have escaped if you let me be! Why did you pull me all of a sudden? Damn it…”

“Ehem… Yeah, my bad… I’m sorry…” I immediately apologized while recalling what just happened. I couldn’t help but scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment.

I didn’t expect the whale’s next move, but I also didn’t expect Chae Nayun’s reflex to be so quick. She would have been fine even if I didn’t butt in…

“Are we in the whale’s stomach right now…?” Chae Nayun asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” I replied and stood up.

I looked around the surroundings.

Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump!

I was certain that we were in the whale’s stomach after seeing the walls pulsating.

Chae Nayun crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “But what the hell is this whale? Is it some sort of ancient deep sea creature?”

“Most whales are not deep sea creatures. More importantly, I think we need to think of a way out of here.”

I closely inspected my surroundings. A whale’s body was large and mysterious, so I was confident that we could get out as long as we maintained our focus.

We were not in danger yet. Of course, it would be a different story if acid came rushing at us…

“What if we just cut our way out?” Chae Nayun wielded her sword and asked.

I shook my head, “We can’t do that. Its internal walls will be extremely tough and we might stir up its acid if we do anything to irritate it.”

“Hmm… I guess you’re right…”

“Give me a moment.”

I looked up the word whale in my settings.

[Whale]

— Types of whales

— Strength of a whale…

However, I couldn’t find anything related to escaping from a whale. I did see something quite interesting though.

“… Hold on. Follow me for now.”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“I have something to find.”

“Something to find? In here?”

“Yeah. Hey, did you know that a whale stores mana in its body?”

A whale swallowed its prey and seawater at the same time, but seawater in this world contained mana. This was especially true for deeper waters as there was more mana in seawater the deeper it came from.

The mana found in the ocean had different characteristics from mana on dry land. Mana in seawater continuously flowed and didn’t gather in one place, so it wasn’t possible for it to compress into things such as wild ginseng or mana stones.

However, that became a different story when a whale was involved. A whale consumed large amounts of sea creatures and seawater, which made it possible for mana to solidify and take shape in its body.

“What does that mean?” Chae Nayun tilted her head in absolute confusion.

“I mean… I’m extremely lucky,” I replied with a bitter smile.

I possessed tremendous luck that would allow me to survive even if I stumbled upon a tiger’s den. I was definitely feeling my luck working right now.

“Just follow me for now. I feel that we’ll get quite a haul in here…”

That was how we ended up walking and inspecting the whale’s body for around thirty minutes.

“Ah! It’s that one!” I exclaimed after finding what I was looking for.

It was an object that resembled a crystal. We found it where the ocean’s mana gathered and solidified. It was the essence of the sea that could only be found in a whale’s body.

I carefully extracted the essence and showed it to Chae Nayun.

“Look at this! This is…” I was about to explain, but then I noticed that Chae Nayun looked quite pale for some reason.

Her face slowly turned purple and she started moaning.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing serious… Blurgh!”

Her half-digested dinner came gushing out of her mouth. She staggered as her knees gave in and I immediately rushed over to catch her.

Sniff… Sniff…

Only then did I notice that this place reeked of a strange stench. I sniffed the air a bit more and realized that the entire place was filled with the stench of the whale’s stomach acid.

“What the hell?”

I wondered what was wrong with Chae Nayun, but it didn’t take long to find out.

I was fine thanks to the [Heart of Adaptation]. On the other hand, Chae Nayun didn’t have the same resistance as I did and ended up getting poisoned.

“Ah… Damn it…” I muttered after realizing how stupid I was to have kept walking with her.

My head started to ache after seeing her veins turn purple from the poison.

I gritted my teeth and started racking my brains. I literally pushed my brain to its limits to come up with a solution. In fact, I even activated bullet time to slow down time to have more time to think.

It was then that a single ray of light shone in my head.

I immediately opened [System Intervention].

[Heart of Adaptation]

— Anyone in contact with the heart’s owner will receive the same effects as long as they remain in contact with each other.

It required a significant amount of SP just to add this single line, but I had a way to replenish my SP in times like this.

I erased one of the arts that I added last time.

[Art, Acting, will be deleted. You will receive a portion of the SP back.]

I changed the setting of the Heart of Adaptation with the refunded SP.

[Setting saved.]

[Your luck has triggered…!]

I didn’t have the luxury to go over it as I hugged Chae Nayun as close as possible to my chest and channeled stigma into the heart to enhance its effects.

Chae Nayun’s breathing returned to normal after a short while.

“Phew… Ah… I thought she was going to die…” I sighed in relief after getting over the dangerous part.

Chae Nayun slowly opened her eyes and gazed at me intently.

I asked her if she was alright and she weakly smiled in response. Her smile looked quite funny, but I strangely found it cute for some reason.

This girl wasn’t always like this…

“Don’t smile… You should have told me if you weren’t feeling well… Geez…” I grumbled before flicking her forehead.

However, she flashed an even bigger and stupid smile after getting hit. I mean, what was so good about getting hit?

Nonetheless, it seemed like she was still struggling from the poison.

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