by Geli Cake
I had a fight with Lena.
'Seriously…'
He hasn't visited me since. Naturally, the quest progress remained stagnant.
But for me, it was a disaster. I was the one who died because of carelessness, and I was the one who was called a monster, so why was he avoiding me?
[Ancient Magic Protection (7-day pass) purchased.]
I spent all my remaining quest points to buy a week's worth of safety. As soon as Lena disappeared, the items reset, and something I desperately needed appeared. Should I consider myself lucky?
It was a similar situation to last time. Lena suddenly vanished, and I was waiting for him to return…
'…I've always been here. You just didn't notice.'
He had clearly said that. Where did he go during the day?
I was twirling my pen between my fingers when I heard a cough behind me and turned my head. A cold draft was coming in through the slightly open window.
"Should I close the window if you're cold?"
"Yes."
[Affection decreased by 1.]
'What's his problem now?'
Haylan was chipping away at my affection points again, even though I hadn't done anything. The points I had painstakingly accumulated were noticeably decreasing.
It was even more puzzling because I couldn't figure out the reason. Were the story-related characters ganging up on me or something?
"Haylan."
"What."
"Do you happen to know someone named Lena?"
"No."
He raised an eyebrow and turned his head away, looking completely disinterested.
Until now, I had been too afraid to mention Lena's name, fearing he would react with, "How do you know him?"
I tried to subtly gauge Haylan's reaction, but all I got was a "who's that?" response.
Who was Lena? Why was his name marked with question marks in the character information?
I felt like I was close to finding the clues. There were two questions.
First, Haylan's hair color in the memory was different from his current hair color.
And second, the memory I saw was Lena's.
'But was there a third person there?'
My perspective in the memory was fixed, so I didn't have time to look around.
'If it was Lena's memory, Haylan should know his name.'
I considered the possibility that Lena had given me a fake name. Then my eyes met Haylan's, who was sitting across from me, eating.
"...."
"...."
[Affection decreased by 1.]
He just averted his gaze again without saying anything.
'This is driving me crazy.'
Haylan, why are you doing this to me too? Huh?
Just then, a white square window popped up between Haylan and me.
[Sub Quest Progress: 45%]
[Sudden Mission Occurred! If you increase the progress by more than half within 12 hours, you will receive a one-time use permit for the skill 'Look at Me!']
[Using the skill has a high probability of drawing ?? out.]
'The heavens haven't abandoned me yet.'
I put down my utensils and looked at the "Accept" button.
[Mission accepted.]
So this is what they mean by, "When one door closes, another opens."
Around 10 p.m., after putting Haylan to bed, I immediately headed for the marked door. From my room to right in front of the library door, that was exactly half.
[As a reward for reaching 50% progress, you will receive a one-time use permit for the skill 'Look at Me!']
The skill arrived around 2 a.m., along with the mission completion notification.
[Look at Me! (One-time event skill)
Use it when you need to stand out the most.]
The description wasn't very clear. Based on my guess…
'Will it make a loud noise?'
Sound was the best way to attract attention. If not that, then…
'Teleportation?'
Would it teleport Lena to me, or me to Lena? If it meant standing out, then…
'It could also emit light.'
Wouldn't that wake everyone up, including those who were sleeping? I pondered, stroking my chin, but since there was no other way, I closed my eyes and reached for the skill window.
Well, Haylan's affection points were already halved, so what did I have to lose now?
As it turned out, my predictions were half right and half wrong.
"...!"
KABOOM! A loud noise, like a meteor crashing down, resonated through the hallway, and the entire structure shook violently. Or should I say, it actually exploded… There was even a flash of light.
'Crazy.'
But it wasn't the house that exploded, it was my head. Blood started dripping from the gash on my forehead. I was so startled when I wiped my forehead with my sleeve, thinking it was sweat, only to find something sticky.
[The 'Look at Me!' skill has been removed.]
Standing out the most…
'This crazy game.'
Certainly, if someone self-harmed with magic like this in front of people, everyone would stare. I had no idea this was what it meant by standing out.
In any case, I had succeeded in drawing someone out.
"Whoa!"
Something suddenly flew from behind me and grazed my head. It was a pillow.
'Why a pillow?'
I turned around in confusion and saw Haylan standing there. Lena, who I was trying to draw out, didn't appear, and I had woken up a sleeping child for no reason. I was at a loss for words. Being outside at this hour, causing a commotion in the middle of the night, those were all things Haylan hated.
[Haylan seems to think you're beyond redemption.]
Sure enough, I felt hurt upon hearing his thoughts.
Why are you doing this? Even as I reflected on my actions, I couldn't help but feel upset by Haylan's coldness towards me over the past few days.
"Hayl…"
"Shut up."
He quickly picked up the pillow he had thrown and said,
"I can't sleep because of you."
Facing his rarely seen, murderous expression, I blinked, watching him cautiously.
"Do something about your forehead first."
"Ah, yes?"
"You can heal yourself. Don't make me say it twice, just do as I say."
…Yes, sir.
Overwhelmed by the force emanating from his small body, I forgot to use an illusion spell and just healed the wound on my forehead. His murderous glare softened slightly but he continued to stare at me intently.
"You said you didn't want me to get hurt. Then why are you being so reckless with your own body? Are you some kind of masochist who enjoys pain?"
Haylan was angry. The Haylan who had been sighing whenever he saw me, thinking I was beyond redemption…
'He's worried about me.'
Last time, during the monster incident, he even cried because of me. But I didn't have time to feel touched.
"Get out of my house. Pack your things and leave right now. If you stay here, you'll only get hurt because of me. I was too… greedy."
Wait, hold on. What?
What did he say?
I stammered, unable to follow his words. Feeling like I was about to be kicked out, I belatedly apologized.
"…W-Wait, hold on, Haylan! I was wrong to sneak out at night."
"Don't give me lip service when you don't even mean it. …I don't want to hear it."
Haylan's gaze turned cold again. Had all my efforts been in vain? His attitude had reverted back to how it was at the beginning.
"I'm sorry for making noise. But if you tell me to leave so suddenly…"
Ah, right. I showed him my bloodstained sleeve, wiping the blood from my forehead, and made a pitiful expression.
"I'm a patient."
"Don't bother. I already know you're a monster who can't die."
"...Huh?"
My mind went blank.
How did he know?
"I have no intention of apologizing to you."
I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.
'Apologize?'
There was only one person in this world who should be apologizing to me.
"If you still don't understand, I'll help you want to get away from me."
As I was pondering the connection between Haylan and Lena, I just blinked stupidly at Haylan's suddenly approaching face. He bit my cheek.
'What is he, a cat…?'
He licked my cheek once, leaving a ticklish sensation before pulling away. At that moment, in the darkness, I witnessed an unbelievable sight in the darkness.
"...!"
I caught Haylan as he suddenly collapsed. Shortly after, his body began to grow. His small fingers stretched out, long and slender, and his warm brown hair turned white, becoming completely silver.
And within Haylan's slowly opening eyelids were… amethyst-colored eyes.