202 His Whereabouts (1/2)

Wendy shoulder-threw the masked man the moment she arrived next to him. She didn't know if the suspiciously armed man just thought she was harmless or what, but he ended up with dislocated shoulder after the throw.

'He should be not getting up soon...' While catching her breath a bit, she thought, consequently considering to take away any weapon from this assailant.

She was about to execute this plan when out of nowhere, a person she didn't expect to see there appeared. It was that pretty-faced who should be at the dorm, either cleaning or resting. Yet he was here. Gawking at her, agape. Did she see correctly that a handgun was in his two hands?

'...Damn.'

When the realization hit her, her expression changed from surprise to a grim one. She also didn't like the feeling when she saw his face, this time not because he was almost more good looking than her, but that he shouldn't be here.

”... You're with this guy?” She warily asked while bending over, her tied hair swaying a bit from the motion.

Ver didn't react even though he knew what she was planning to do. The being inside his mind was busy talking about how she was still someone in contacts with a host and so he should not have been confused and surprised by her actions.

He saw her hand reaching out as swiftly as she could to the pistol on the man's waist. She widened the gap between her legs and then pointed the gun at his face.

She additionally questioned, cold as a thousand-year-old glacier. ”... Speak, you faker! Are your injuries faked too?”

Ver felt like a criminal caught in the act. Or actually, he really was. He was about to commit the crime of killing a former comrade when the girl chanced upon him. It was such a ridiculous coincidence. It had always been since she, a mysterious regular being, saved the immoral host, him. As expected, fate was a bigger as*hole than already perceived. If it was an author, then its plot twists were more twisted and stupider than anyone else's.

He put up a conflicted and complicated expression.

”... I am not with him.” Well, not anymore.

The darkness of the night did not eclipse the beauty of the person before him. He expressed admiration in his mind when her prettiness didn't diminish even though her face sported a mocking expression and clicking noises started to come out of her mouth.

”What a person with a low IQ. So many people like you in the world. Mister pretender, if you don't remember, I asked you, damnable pretty face, two questions.”

”Put down your weapon and then we can talk.” His eyes darkened at the gun she was holding with confidence and proper posture. One glance was enough to know that she had experiences with handling things like this. Who was she really? Who taught her? Where was she getting the confidence to face off a dangerous man like him?

...Why was she so captivating?

”Oh?” she snorted at the suggestion he raised after careful consideration. ”I don't really mind, Sir. But I'm a fragile lady so could you first throw away yours and then I'll follow?”

'...Sighs.'

That guy on the rocky ground should be the last one so there should be no problem laying down his weapon now, right? He double-checked the info with his AI before casually tossing the thing in his hand away. But not without whining remarks about her being a fragile lady.

”I already did your request. Fulfill your side.”

The girl smirked but did not put away hers.

”Turn around and face the wall, stupid!”

Ver's cheeks spasmed. He knew this would happen. This woman must be celebrating inwardly that he seemed so easy to fool. If she only knew that this stupid system user had already replenished his points and could even rain down stones from the sky if he wants to.

”You're pretty courageous for someone facing a real underworld person...” he said as he turned around, his two hands raised high in the air.

”Thanks for the compliment. Likewise, you're pretty moronic for really letting go of your weapon and telling me with no qualms about your true origins.”

Ver heard the rage in her voice. Earlier, when she learned about his faked muteness, the anger she showed didn't bother him one bit. But now he disliked how he felt bad for making her feel like this.

Wendy who kept pointing the barrel at him was actually also furious at herself for not checking out who this person was. When did she become so lax with her guard? If her brother knew about this, he'd scold her until her eardrums burst.

'I'm the real fool here... To think I'm still complaining about the girls and comparing his obedience with them just a few minutes ago...'

Minutes passed that they remained that way. Outside the abandoned dorm's ground, the others who finally noticed that Wendy was not around panicked and speed-dialed the police's number. They, especially the guilty short-statured girl, all felt worried for their transferee friend but felt extreme awe after hearing from the police that they were already on their way as signaled by Wendy.

None of them braved crawling back into the other side again. Given their current position, without lighting up the place diagonally to their left, they wouldn't see a thing from that direction since it was extremely dark, plus they were never courageous, to begin with. They began crying, waiting and praying for the police car to arrive fast. The two who thought up this game hated themselves for this whimsical gimmick.

Dozens of meters from them...

Wendy felt the strain in her arms as she had been at the same stance for almost five minutes, not daring to bring down the gun in fear that the pretty-faced man would suddenly turn around and incapacitate her.

Ver sighed. Displeasure coursed through his face. It had been the same amount of time that he had been tolerating the girl's unusual silence.

”... Are you really going to do this? I haven't done anything yet. It's you who knocked down that man.”

She still refused to speak with him.

”Are you stalling for time? For the police's arrival?”

Behind him, when he turned his head around to see how she reacted, Wendy was sneering and looking at him as if he was asking the obvious.

His expression darkened.

And it grew worse when he caught a glimpse of the supposedly unconscious masked man struggling to lift his left black-gloved hand towards her.

”Watch out!”

”Don't move!”

He ignored her panic-stricken shout and flickered to her side. Disregarding her hysteria and protest, the host picked her up in a bride-like fashion and dashed away from that place.

”F*ck! Good thing I already healed myself!” He exclaimed a couple of seconds later, the muscles in his just recently recovered arms contracting, as they dove deeper into the dark dormitory. He collapsed and released hold of her near the back of the stairwell.

”Ouch!”