The Second Choice
Confusion. Her white, slender arms wrapped around my neck. The same arms that had felt impossibly warm at first.
"Why... didn't you transform into the first one... and changed into the second one instead...?"
At that single question, with a grinding crack, they transformed into a white rope that tightened around my windpipe, slowly crushing me.
How...? Does that mean she could see everything? Then has she been pretending not to know this whole time? No way!
No... that couldn't be. I clearly remembered how curious she had been every time I gained a new trait, asking what abilities had appeared. It couldn't all have been an act. Then what was it...? There was definitely something I was missing.
I had a gut feeling that if I didn't handle this moment properly, the distance between us would widen in an instant. And if that distance grew until she stopped summoning me, I would face a punishment worse than death. Trapped forever in that dark space, alone until the world itself ended...
Thud. Thud.
Reaching that conclusion sent goosebumps racing across my entire body. It lasted only a fleeting instant, yet my mind tangled into a chaotic knot, plunging me into endless confusion.
...Hold on. Don't stop thinking. Why did it turn out like this?
Even when I tried to think, reason refused to function properly in this state of confusion. The world felt like it was flipping upside down and slowly twisting. Then falling downward.
Trait: Composure
Resists the status ailment: Confusion!
But just like always, Composure firmly anchored my center.
Haa— Am I insane? To think I actually fell into an abnormal status... Get it together. Now that I think about it, there are a few suspicious points.
Let's work backwards. What exactly did Yeonhee say in that last question?
Not the first one but the second... I definitely focused on the sequence.
She might have said it casually, but what if she could truly only perceive the order? What if the summon list showed nothing but question marks for everything except the numbered slots...?
But is that even possible? If she can see it, why wouldn't she see everything? How can she see some things and not others? It's her own summon.
Still, if that was the case, it followed a similar pattern to how I needed to fulfill certain conditions before I could change classes or use certain skills.
"...Ilwol... why aren't you saying anything... Lan is right here too..."
(I'll relay exactly what Ilwol is thinking, Master. He still hasn't said a word.)
Damn that Lan. What a useless ability to have!
Just give me a moment. Let's organize this.
1. Yeonhee couldn't see the detailed contents of my status window.
2. But now she could see part of it.
3. Because of that, she was strongly questioning why I had silently skipped the first mimicry option.
These three points are almost certainly true. What I overlooked was assuming her abilities would remain as they were in the past.
I had been complacent. As her level rose and her experience accumulated, her abilities must have been improving as well. Had I been too absorbed in my own growth lately? Or had I fallen into the arrogance of believing I was the only special one...?
While I was busy blaming myself, one possibility suddenly came to mind.
...! Wait, could it be that stat?
Dominance. I remembered hearing about it back when Ttungi went berserk after seeing the Blue Eyes followers. That she possessed a stat called Dominance, something no one else had.
Wasn't Dominance only supposed to control summons...? I see. If I look at it that way, everything fits.
If we assumed that once her Dominance exceeded a certain threshold, it partially unlocked access rights to my information, it made perfect sense.
Good. Then there's one more question. Why is Yeonhee this angry?
She might feel like I had ignored her. If she thought that despite always caring for me, I hadn't said a word about this newly gained ability, it would make sense for her to be upset.
But knowing Yeonhee's personality, that probably wasn't the reason.
"...Ilwol... why did you skip the first option... can't you just tell me quickly...? If you're hiding something from me... I..."
Drop—
Huh?!
She released the arms that had been constricting me, stretched them forward, and pulled my head tightly against her chest. Then she whispered directly into my ear.
"...I'll have no choice but to make sure you don't become that bad Ilwol... And after that... I'll lock you up so you can never go anywhere..."
......What? What the hell does that mean?
She could just unsummon me and I'd be trapped anyway, so what did she mean by locking me up again? I couldn't understand.
Still, since this was heading toward the worst situation I had feared, my senses grew sharper than ever.
Hm? Something... is moving...?!
But I had become like a puppet, unable to move even slightly without her permission. Since when had this been happening?
It wasn't just me. Lan had gone completely rigid, as if time itself had stopped for him.
Did she really possess this much power to control her summons?
"Hehe... Ilwol... Actually, I haven't told anyone, but when I level up, I can pour all my stat points into a single ability. Hehehe... I don't know why only I can do it, but who cares..."
...What?
What on earth was she talking about now? Every awakened being without exception had to distribute their gained stats across three different abilities.
But Yeonhee could focus all her growth into just one?
"But... I've leveled up a lot recently, so I have quite a few unused stats saved up... Hehe... Do you understand what that means? You're smart, Ilwol, so you've probably figured it out by now..."
Don't tell me she's planning to dump all of them into Dominance...?
Then the part about locking me up so I couldn't go anywhere...
"So speak. I can't give you any more time. Since you're smart, Ilwol, you might try pulling another trick. Now—this is an order. Why didn't you transform into the first person?"
The single word order filled my mind with thick fog. My will grew hazy, and my vision could see nothing but her.
Trait: Composure
Trait: Composure
"Lan, what is Ilwol thinking right now?"
(Yes... Ilwol is currently...)
Lan seemed to be under mental domination from Yeonhee; his eyes had lost all focus.
...Sigh... Fine. The, the reason I didn't transform into the first list is...
(The reason he didn't transform into the first list is...)
"Yeah, yeah! What's the reason?"
I wanted to surprise you by transforming into Master's appearance...
(......He says so.)
"...L-lie! That's not it! There's another reason, isn't there? Right?"
Yeonhee put me in a headlock as if she couldn't believe it and shouted at me to spit out the truth.
I barely held on...
My thoughts still weren't fully organized, so I didn't want to tell her everything right now. At the very least, I wanted to see how she would react tomorrow after seeing my true appearance before deciding whether to speak or not.
But this was the limit. Her words, her gestures, her scent—they were all shaking me to the core. If I let myself be swayed any further, it felt like I would lose myself completely.
I was a summon, but even so, I wanted to live as myself.
Trait: Composure
The timing was perfect. As she shook my neck back and forth, throwing a tantrum, her grip loosened. I stretched out my arm with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Enough—!
When I suddenly stood and reached for her, she flinched in surprise, stumbled backward, and fell hard on her backside.
Thump!
"Kyaa?!"
She let out a short scream without realizing it and squeezed her eyes shut.
Oh no...
"...Hic..."
Even now, her Dominance was still exerting its effect. But it wasn't strong enough to control my actions anymore.
And her face wasn't that of a ruler. She looked anxious and uneasy, like someone being chased.
There's no need for her to feel anxious at all... Did I cause this?
I couldn't fully understand why she was reacting so emotionally. I had been born with the sensory ability, but I wasn't particularly skilled at reading emotions. In short, I was rather dull in that area.
Still, the sight of her slightly wet eyes left an uncomfortable feeling in my chest.
I didn't want her to spend even a single day feeling anxious and on edge.
I carefully placed my hand on her shoulder as she hung her head, unsure what to do.
Damn thorns, get on my back!
At my powerful will that held no doubt, the blade-like thorns attached to my front all began shifting toward my back. The things that refused to move when I tried to control them consciously reacted instantly in a crisis.
Whoosh—
"?!"
I pulled her waist and drew her into my embrace. Afraid I might hurt her, I couldn't hug her with full strength. Carefully—like handling a newborn—I left an awkward space between us as we looked at each other for a moment.
"...Ugh..."
For some reason, she was sobbing.
I didn't know why. I probably never would, even if I lived my whole life. What she was thinking. But my guess was that she felt sorry for using slightly coercive, even violent force unlike her usual self.
"Wh... why... aren't you... saying anything..."
I nodded silently.
I'm sorry. I'm scared too.
I gently patted her finely trembling back.
She leaned her forehead against my chest and stayed like that for a long time.
Whew— I was gradually breaking free from her dominance. Both body and mind felt lighter.
When she sees my appearance tomorrow, she'll definitely feel a sense of distance... There's no escaping this now.
But what could I do? The die had already been cast.
It seemed like less than an hour had passed.
......
Sss— Sss—
Is she asleep?
Steady breathing. Stable heartbeat. The numbers were exactly the same as when Yeonhee usually fell asleep.
She's definitely sleeping.
I lifted her with practiced ease, carried her into the room, and laid her gently on the bed. Seeing her sleeping so soundly as if the earlier chaos had never happened, she looked utterly adorable.
Whew— That was that, but I still had work to do.
......I'll be back soon.
I closed the door softly behind me, entered stealth mode, and threw myself out the window. I was going to eliminate the sinister group the system had designated in order to obtain free stats.
Tap!
This was my first time going outside alone. There had been no reason to wander around, and I'd had plenty of training to do.
But if it was a chance to gain free stats, it was worth setting those things aside for a while.
Tap tap—
There was no need to take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood, so I ran in a straight line toward the target location I had already identified.
This is the place.
As expected, the target's residence was also a villa.
Adhesion
I used adhesion to scale the building up to the fourth floor where I suspected he was.
Swoosh— The window was slightly open, and luckily, through the gap I could see the face of a woman sitting in front of a computer.
It wasn't him. The build seemed masculine, though.
Anyway, she was wearing glasses so it was hard to be sure, but I estimated her to be in her mid-thirties.
Of course she's an awakened.
Her combat power was only E-grade—far weaker than mine.
She left the room shortly afterward, and I carefully pried the metal window frame apart with both hands. The frame bent as easily as taffy.
The opening was just large enough for my body to slip through, so there was no need to smash the wall.
Creak—
I opened the window, entered the room, and carefully observed the target's movements through the waves of my senses.
She seemed completely unaware that I had entered.
In the living room, she was humming a tune and busily preparing something.
The computer...
I sat down, moved the mouse, and checked what she had been doing.
Shopping mall. Nothing unusual...
Whatever the case, the conclusion was already decided.
I would kill this person. There was no need to exchange words.
I imagined the moment the woman would return.
Step—
I sat on the bed in stealth mode. The moment she opened the door and entered, I slashed her throat with my dagger.
Slice——!
"Kk—"
Thud!
The woman couldn't even let out a proper dying scream. She lost her neck and breathed her last.
Hmm...
It couldn't have been cleaner. If I simply stored the corpse in my inventory, no traces would remain except for the bloodstains.
But I wanted to extract the maximum possible efficiency.
Step—
This time the real woman entered the room. Even though I stood right in front of her, she felt no sense of unease whatsoever.
I clenched my fist and lightly struck her in the stomach.
Thump!
"Kuhuk—!"
Thud!
Her back bent like a shrimp as she collapsed to her knees before me.