Kim did not run. He did not scream. He did not even cast a glance toward the students who were fleeing in sheer panic between the trees.
Instead, his gaze remained fixed entirely on the spot where that shadow had vanished. Only there.
Because the monster... was not the issue. But the one who had unleashed the monster... that was where the true problem began.
Elsewhere in the forest, the chaos was compounding.
The nobles who had been boasting mere hours ago were now running like frightened children. Magic detonated in every direction, and the colossal beast devoured everything in its path.
Iris, meanwhile, was staring at Kim in absolute bewilderment.
> "What are you doing?!"
>
She pointed frantically toward the beast.
> "If we do not flee right now—"
>
He cut her off calmly.
> "It will not pursue us."
>
She froze.
> "What?"
>
Kim raised his eyes toward the monster. It was killing. Destroying. Hunting. Yet the pattern of its movement was crystal clear. Precise. Organized.
This was not the conduct of a mindless beast. It was the conduct of a hound following a specific scent—or a specific target.
Kim smiled faintly.
> "Look closely."
>
Iris observed. Once. Twice. Then... her eyes widened.
The beast had bypassed dozens of students; in fact, it ignored some of them entirely. It was consistently lunging toward a very specific group—students wearing a distinct emblem. A small, golden crest. The crest of a particular noble house.
> "It is..."
>
Iris whispered, her voice trembling.
> "It's targeting them."
>
Kim nodded serenely.
> "Therefore, this is no accident."
> "It is an assassination."
>
Silence fell. Inside Iris's mind, thoughts began to race at a maddening speed.
An assassination? Inside the academy examination? Who possessed the sheer audacity to commit such an act? And who could guarantee it wouldn't be discovered?
But Kim had already arrived at another conclusion, one far more critical. If this was an assassination, then the architect of the plan was present right here. Observing. Waiting.
And that meant... the hunter had not yet departed.
Suddenly, the sound of a nearby explosion rattled the air, followed by an agonized shriek.
The two turned toward the source and found a young noble thrown to the ground, his leg shattered. The monster was closing in on him rapidly. As for his companions... they had fled, leaving him entirely alone.
The youth trembled, weeping in despair.
> "Help me..."
> "Please..."
>
But no one returned. No one even bothered to look back.
Kim gazed upon the scene, and a very small smile graced his lips—a smile of profound understanding.
> "Magnificent."
>
Iris was taken aback.
> "What is magnificent about this?!"
>
He replied calmly:
> "When fear takes over..."
> "The true nature of humanity reveals itself."
>
He pointed toward the abandoned noble.
> "An hour ago, they called him a friend."
> "And now, they have left him to die."
>
The beast arrived. It hoisted its colossal claws, bracing for the definitive, killing blow. The youth closed his eyes in utter resignation.
But—at the very final fraction of a second, a massive tree abruptly collapsed right in front of the monster.
*BOOM!*
The strike was intercepted, and a dense cloud of dust surged into the air.
The young noble's eyes snapped open in disbelief. Iris, however, immediately whipped her head toward Kim, for she was certain he had done something.
But Kim? He was standing precisely where he had been. Placid. Unmoving. He hadn't taken a single step.
The truth... was that mere seconds prior, he had flicked a small stone. A stone that struck a fractured, rotting point in the trunk of an ancient tree. The trunk buckled, the tree fell, and the monster was halted.
A simple, basic movement. No magic. No supernatural power. Nothing to draw unwanted attention.
Kim smiled internally. Sometimes... the cleverest way to win is to make everyone believe that luck was the only thing that saved them.
But in the very next instant... he froze. For a single, terrifying second.
Because he felt it. Something familiar. Something ancient. So ancient that it had absolute no right to exist within this world.
Slowly... he raised his head toward the deep, uncharted recesses of the forest—toward a sector where no student had dared to venture. A region of absolute, pitch-black darkness, where even the light seemed to wither and disappear.
And within those depths... an eye snapped open.
A colossal eye. It was not the eye of a monster, nor was it the eye of a human.
The moment it opened, the Chaos within Kim convulsed violently for the very first time since his arrival in this realm.
As for Kim... his smile vanished. The enduring calm evaporated from his eyes for a brief, fleeting moment.
> "Impossible..."
>
He whispered the word involuntarily.
Because that sensation... resembled something he knew intimately. Something from his old world. Something that should have been utterly erased along with the black Sea of Nothingness.
From the deepest abyss of the forest, the echo of a distant laugh reverberated—a laugh so foul that the surrounding trees began to rot and die in its wake.
Then, an unknown voice whispered through the dark:
> *"Found you at last..."*
>
> *"Some secrets do not wait for you to find them... they hunt you down instead."*
>