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The Gwang-a Wolf's massive body slammed into the ground right in front of me.

"…That's insane."

"Kim Jin-hyuk."

Kim Jin-hyuk flicked the blood from his blade without a word. With a metallic click, he slid the sword home into its sheath and walked slowly toward me.

"…Sorry I'm late."

"Don't be."

I let out a short laugh.

"You got here right on time."

Kim Jin-hyuk glanced at the fallen Gwang-a Wolf for a moment before speaking.

"You held that thing off by yourself?"

I shrugged at the question.

"It just kind of happened?"

"…That's impressive."

Interest Level? What's this now?

I was still staring at the unexpected system window when Kim Jin-hyuk asked again.

"Weren't you dead last in the magic department?"

"Are you hiding your power or something?"

He looked genuinely curious.

"Haha…"

"Maybe I just thrashed around trying not to die?"

"You know how it is — some people awaken right before they kick it."

Well. I had almost died, so.

I quickly patted Jin-hyuk on the shoulder.

"Alright, alright, we can sort that out later."

"There's something more important right now, isn't there?"

I turned my head toward Lee Si-hyun, still lying on the ground. Kim Jin-hyuk followed my gaze and nodded.

"Yeah. There's something more important right now."

The moment the two of us started walking toward her, lights flared from beyond the underbrush — one, then another, then a whole cascade of them bursting through the trees.

"Seol Dam! Lee Si-hyun! Are you two alright?"

A moment later, the supervising teachers emerged through the fog. No — looking closer, there was one more person with them.

…Kang Ha-rin? What's she doing here?

"Oh? Kim Jin-hyuk was here too?"

The supervising teacher let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. You all look unharmed."

Then one of the teachers scanned the area and frowned.

"…By the way, where did the Gwang-a Wolf go?"

At that, I slowly turned around. The massive wolf still lay motionless on the ground. Without a word, I pointed.

"Over there."

The teachers' eyes followed my finger. As their gazes landed on the wolf, they began to widen.

"…It can't be."

One of them approached carefully to check, prodding the Gwang-a Wolf's body with the tip of his sword. A dull thud. He shoved it with his foot just to be sure, but the enormous body only slumped, completely still.

"…It's completely dead."

"Dead…?"

The teachers' gazes flicked back and forth between Jin-hyuk and me.

"Who took it down?"

Hearing that, Kim Jin-hyuk stepped forward.

"Seol Dam and I took it—"

I lunged over and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"……?"

Kim Jin-hyuk stared at me, startled. I quietly shook my head.

Don't say anything yet.

Shut up. That's not even what this is.

One of the teachers looked at us, puzzled.

"Kim Jin-hyuk and Seol Dam what?"

"Haha, I didn't do anything. Kim Jin-hyuk handled it all on his own — protected Lee Si-hyun and took down the Gwang-a Wolf."

"I just got rescued along the way while he was protecting her."

The teachers listened carefully, then nodded.

"I see."

"Well, it's not like Seol Dam could have taken down a B-rank monster like a Gwang-a Wolf anyway."

Kim Jin-hyuk looked at me for a moment after hearing that, then finally kept his mouth shut.

"And Kim Jin-hyuk — this achievement will be properly recorded. You'll be recognized as a contributor to a B-rank monster subjugation, so you can look forward to a reward from the school as well."

Kim Jin-hyuk seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking.

"…Yes, sir. Understood."

"Alright then, everyone head back to the dungeon exit. I'll carry Lee Si-hyun."

One of the teachers in front carefully lifted her up.

"The rest of you, follow along at your own pace."

With that, the teachers took the lead and started moving toward the dungeon exit.

Once some distance had opened up, Kim Jin-hyuk spoke quietly.

"Why'd you do that?"

I thought for a moment before answering.

"Just keep it a secret for me."

Of course I'd like the credit too. I would, but…

There's a fair amount of risk on my end as well.

One thing had already gone off-script. Originally, a Gwang-a Wolf never should have appeared here at all. Even if the original story was already going off the rails, a deviation this big meant there was a real chance someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. And if that someone found out who I really was? If things went that way, it would put serious constraints on everything I needed to do going forward.

And one more thing.

The fact that Kim Jin-hyuk saved Lee Si-hyun by himself can't change either.

Kim Jin-hyuk saves Lee Si-hyun alone — that itself is the ending of this episode. If the ending changes, predicting the next episode becomes nearly impossible.

Of course, a changed outcome could also mean fate itself can be rewritten, which might not sound so bad.

But not right now. We're still in the early episodes. Having things go this far off-script this quickly isn't going to do me any favors.

That was my conclusion.

"What? But the school reward? You were in it too."

"You take it all. You've earned it."

"No, but still—"

"I said it's fine. I'm going on ahead, so catch up whenever."

Honestly, the protagonist's biggest problem is that he's too hung up on being honest.

I walked past Jin-hyuk and headed off first. Seeing that, Kim Jin-hyuk picked up his pace as well.

Meanwhile, someone had been watching the whole thing from a distance.

"Interesting."

Kang Ha-rin's lips ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠curved into a slight smile.

"Shall we?"

She, too, started walking toward the dungeon exit.

What is a childhood friend?

Ask that question, and ninety out of a hundred people would give you the same answer. A friend you've known since you were little. A friend you've spent a long time with. A friend who shares the same memories.

But what did "childhood friend" mean to Lee Si-hyun?

It probably wasn't a word that could explain him that simply.

Seol Dam. The person she'd first met in kindergarten. The person who'd gone through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠elementary school, middle school, and high school right beside her. A friend who hadn't left her side even once in roughly fifteen years. To Lee Si-hyun, Seol Dam had been as natural a presence as family.

But after they enrolled at Frontier, that everyday certainty had begun to crumble, little by little. It had all started, she thought, after she rejected Seol Dam's feelings.

Even though she'd turned down his confession, it wasn't like she disliked him as a person. She'd figured that if they could just get past the initial awkwardness, they could go back to how things used to be. So she approached him first.

That was the moment. The first time Seol Dam had felt like a stranger. At some point, that familiarity had stopped being a comfort and become a burden.

Even after that, Seol Dam didn't give up. At first, she tried to understand. They'd been together for so long — of course he couldn't sort out his feelings that easily. That's how much he'd come to like her.

But as time passed, his feelings only grew. And she grew more and more exhausted. By the time their first year at Frontier came to an end, they were no longer what they used to be. The friend she'd been most comfortable with had, at some point, become the person she most wanted to avoid.

Then second year began.

Honestly, she'd been a little worried. That the same thing would happen all over again. That Seol Dam would come to her again. That she'd push him away again. That the same cycle would just keep repeating.

But contrary to her fears, even after they ended up in the same class — even after he was assigned the seat right behind hers — Seol Dam never spoke to her. If anything, she was relieved. There was no need to create any more awkward situations, and no reason for either of them to feel uncomfortable around the other.

And so, in that awkward silence, the joint dungeon exploration began.

"…Hah."

She drew in a sharp breath. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling.

"……Where am I?"

Her blurry vision slowly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came into focus.

"You're awake."

She turned her head. Kim Jin-hyuk was sitting in a chair, looking at her.

"This is the infirmary. A teacher brought you here after you passed out in the dungeon."

In an instant, the memories from the dungeon came flooding back all at once. The Gwang-a Wolf. Those massive fangs coming down on her. And the person who had appeared in front of her at the last moment.

"……Seol Dam."

"S-Seol Dam — what happened to Dam?"

"Seol Dam?"

"Ah… you mean Dam…"

Kim Jin-hyuk looked at Lee Si-hyun for a moment before speaking.

"He got rescued along with you."

"……Rescued?"

"Yeah."

Rescued?

"So you were the one who saved me from the start?"

"…That's also true."

But the figure she'd seen back then was definitely—

"…That's a lie."

"Don't lie to me. The one who blocked it for me back then was definitely Dam."

Seeing that, Kim Jin-hyuk fell silent for a moment.

"…Haha. Guess fooling the person involved was a bit much. Yeah, lying really isn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my thing. Seol Dam did ask me to, but… there's no way he was hiding his power even from his childhood friend, right?"

Kim Jin-hyuk muttered something she couldn't quite make sense of, then looked at her straight on.