Paid Service (2)

The message announcing that the Main Scenario had been cleared floated right in front of my eyes — eyes that belonged to a man currently playing dead to avoid Yoo Joonghyuk.

Goddamn it…

Of course the system had to go and announce exactly how many people were still alive in Car 3707. Yoo Joonghyuk had almost certainly seen the same message.

"………."

"………."

In a car where only two people remained, a heavy, airless silence settled over everything.

"This round already has variables from the start."

"………."

I held perfectly still, clinging to the desperate hope that if I just kept playing dead long enough, I might actually get out of this alive.

That hope died the moment I heard footsteps walking straight toward where I lay.

Thud!

"Guh—!"

"What are you? How did you survive?"

A crushing pain slammed into my stomach, and the scream tore out of me before I could remember I was supposed to be a corpse. My eyes flew open — and there she was. Yoo Joonghyuk, one boot planted firmly on my abdomen, a black sword already drawn and leveled at my throat.

When I looked up at her face, those eyes — normally pure black — flickered gold for a brief instant before settling back into darkness. She must have used the Sage's Eye for a moment to hunt down the one other survivor in the car: me.

"I'll ask one last time. How did you survive?"

"Urgh—! Th-that's…"

Apparently I hadn't answered fast enough. She lifted her leg and drove it down into my stomach again.

"I saw you searching the pockets of that suspicious-looking man! Something felt off, so I just ran for the door — that's all!"

"………."

Yoo Joonghyuk went quiet, her expression unreadable as she seemed to turn my answer over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in her mind. Meanwhile, the boot still grinding into my stomach was starting to seriously hurt.

"Um… excuse me?"

"What."

"Could you maybe take your foot off me now?"

Her leg felt so heavy it might as well have been an elephant standing on my gut. The pressure on my abdomen was intense enough that breathing had become a genuine problem, so all I'd done was carefully ask her to ease up and offer a tiny, muttered observation.

She must have heard that observation, because the foot pressing down on my stomach put on even more weight. Looking up at her face, I could see the veins standing out — she was definitely pissed.

Ugh…! My stomach's being crushed so hard I can't breathe…!

"………."

"I-I'm sorry, it was all my fau—!"

I forced my mouth open to apologize, but the force in her leg said everything her silence didn't: I don't need your apology. Just die. I couldn't even finish the sentence.

This insane woman. I'd compared her leg to an elephant's, and now she was genuinely trying to kill me for it.

I slapped at her boot with both palms, yanked on her pant leg, thrashed and kicked with everything I had — anything to get free. The difference in strength was already absurd; she must have spent coins already. No matter how hard I struggled, her leg didn't budge an inch.

She'd been completely expressionless when I was just hitting her boot. The second I grabbed her pants, though, her face twisted into pure contempt. I was going to lose my mind.

Look at these messages. Look at them. Being sent to a guy who's about to die under the boot of a monstrously strong, temperamental nightmare of a woman — and these are the things calling themselves Constellations.

There was only one way out of this.

Please. Please! Just give me one broken, overpowered skill! Attribute Window!

Something that could grab Yoo Joonghyuk's attention. Hell, something that could just make her interested.