Ivan opened his eyes with a slight headache.
As his hazy vision cleared, an endless blue sky greeted him.
The fierce heat of the sun suspended at its center pierced his skin.
“So this is Carlos Grand Canyon?”
Ivan shaded his eyes with one hand and surveyed his surroundings.
Tall cliffs rose from the earth like fortress walls and intertwined in every direction, evoking an enormous maze.
Ivan looked over his map once more. A red dot glowed near its bottom.
It seemed to indicate his current location.
“That’s fascinating.”
Ivan exclaimed like a primitive man encountering modern technology.
It was only natural after spending his entire life fighting monsters in a remote territory.
After roughly determining the route on the map, Ivan looked around this time.
No one was nearby, so it seemed every trainee had a different starting point.
Ivan checked the water and food he had received before passing through the warp gate.
“Jerky. This amount should somehow last three days. I’ll need to conserve the water.”
Considering how much stamina they would expend, the food supply was remarkably small. The water did not even bear mentioning.
He might have to collect river water and boil it before drinking.
Although he doubted he would have the leisure to do so.
In other words, they had to complete the course without ever fully recovering their stamina.
And while being pursued by chasers, no less.
“Well, a test wouldn’t be a test if it were easy.”
Ivan loosened up and waited for the starting signal.
A short while passed.
[Beeeeep—Trainees may begin moving now.]
A voice rang throughout the canyon as though speakers had been installed everywhere.
Ivan steadied his breathing. The canyon’s heat flowed hot into his lungs.
Even for someone with Ivan’s stamina, running in this sweltering heat would be an ordeal.
“I should leave the canyon as quickly as possible.”
Prolonged exposure to heat this intense would rapidly exhaust both his body and mind.
After warming up, Ivan studied the map and began to run.
Training in the elven forest had taught him how to maintain his balance across rough terrain, but the landscape of Carlos Grand Canyon defied imagination.
Stones of every size lay scattered everywhere, forcing him to concentrate with every step.
‘One wrong step and my ankle will be destroyed.’
But Ivan continued accelerating without stopping. He focused every nerve on avoiding the stones and kicked off the ground.
Sweat already beaded across him beneath the sunlight, and his throat began to burn.
Ivan smirked. He had long since grown accustomed to this degree of suffering.
“This is more manageable than I expected.”
That did not mean he could relax. The true test would begin when the special investigators set out.
Ivan could now protect all his bells against Flora, but if he encountered a special investigator, he could not imagine escaping from them.
Of course, it would depend on how much they held back, but he had no idea what that limit would be and thus could not feel reassured.
The key to this test was avoiding the chasers entirely.
‘Following the route marked on the map would get me there quickly.’
But it would also make him far more likely to be discovered by a chaser first.
Therefore, even if it took more time, Ivan decided to complete the course using detours not marked on the map.
The heat made his whole body feel as though it would melt.
But Ivan continued onward without rest, the tag at his waist fluttering behind him.
***
Carlos Grand Canyon was so vast that its end remained out of sight even after the sun set and the sky turned black.
At least nightfall brought the canyon’s temperature down.
Ivan had run through the canyon without rest all day, occasionally encountering other trainees.
Some felt competitive when Ivan raced ahead and tried to follow him, but every one of them soon fell behind.
“I never imagined the canyon would be this large.”
Although he had run without pause, the red dot on the map had yet to leave the canyon.
As night arrived, darkness rapidly fell over his surroundings and cut off his vision.
“I wish I had some kind of light.”
The supplies they had received included no tools for starting a fire.
This, too, was likely one of the many obstacles built into the test.
He could not see well, but that did not mean he was unable to move.
Advancing as aggressively as he had in the morning was impossible, but Ivan slowly walked onward by relying on the map’s red glow.
“It’s salty, but not bad.”
How long had he walked without closing his eyes?
Ivan tore into his jerky as he watched the landscape brighten with dawn.
The salt made it easy to ease his hunger and recover some energy.
After finishing his simple meal, Ivan hurried onward once more.
His mind felt slightly hazy from lack of sleep, but this was nothing compared to the time he had fought for a full week without sleeping.
“I’ll be out of the canyon soon.”
Perhaps because he had sacrificed sleep and moved throughout the night, he began to hear the distant roar of rushing water.
Ivan moved his legs toward the nearby end of the canyon.
That was when it happened.
He sensed someone’s presence from another direction.
Ivan instinctively turned his head.
It was Miliana.
She emerged from a fork in the path, looking as exhausted as Ivan after running all night.
“......”
Miliana’s eyes widened when she spotted Ivan. As always, he was running slightly ahead of her.
At that realization, Miliana bit her lip and followed behind Ivan while breathing heavily.
“Hey, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard? If you don’t conserve your stamina, how are you going to cross the river?”
Ivan glanced back and spoke indifferently.
Her staggering gait.
Her half-glazed eyes.
Her unending gasps.
No matter how generously he judged it, Miliana was in poor condition.
“Huff... Huff... Y-you have no reason to care......”
“And I have no reason not to care, do I? You’ve helped me several times.”
“I told you... I wasn’t helping you for your sake......”
“Whatever your reason, you still helped me. By the way, did I do something wrong to you?”
Ivan had already guessed that she was pushing herself this hard because of him.
She had kept sending glances his way, so it was impossible not to notice.
She was doing it even now. The moment Miliana saw Ivan, she had followed close behind him as though acutely conscious of his presence.
But Ivan did not know why she was behaving this way.
So he took this opportunity to ask her directly.
“......”
Caught off guard, Miliana worked her mouth without finding an answer.
“...No. So stop worrying about me and go your own way.”
Miliana finally forced out the words.
It appeared she had no intention of revealing her true feelings. Ivan remained concerned, but he had no intention of pressing her when she did not want to talk.
“Is that so? Then I’ll say one more thing. I mean this sincerely: if you keep that pace, you’re going to collapse.”
“...I won’t collapse. I... cannot collapse here.”
Miliana responded to Ivan’s sincere warning in a voice full of pent-up emotion.
After that, the two continued running in silence for some time.
Then dawn illuminated the sky, and the sun rose fully above it.
Rooooar.
They finally left Carlos Grand Canyon and reached the river.
As the sound had suggested from afar, the current was violent.
The jungle on the opposite bank was also a considerable distance away.
Ivan tied the pouch containing his food tightly shut and steadied his breathing.
Miliana arrived later and sank to the ground. She appeared to be struggling to recover her breath.
“Phew.”
Meanwhile, Ivan’s breathing became even again. He no longer looked toward Miliana.
She seemed to want neither pity nor help.
His body was already overheated, so there was no need to warm up.
Splash!
Ivan leaped straight into the river.
The cold water briefly refreshed him, but before he could enjoy it, the violent current began pushing him away.
He was not a confident swimmer, but he moved his arms and legs as he had learned in training and resisted the current.
Ivan cut through the water and swam across the river.
Splash!
Another splash rang out behind him.
Miliana had followed Ivan into the river.
***
Miliana had repeatedly pushed herself too far since the test began.
She knew that perfectly well. No one understood her body better than she did.
There was no need for her to overexert herself this badly.
Had she rested and conserved her stamina, someone like her would have passed the test without difficulty.
But Miliana could not do that. The back of a boy who should not have been beside her kept flickering before her eyes.
‘I don’t understand.’
Miliana could not put this emotion into words.
Whenever she watched that back steadily move ahead of her, it felt as though she were running in place.
It was a deeply unpleasant sensation she had never experienced before. She did not want to fall behind. She wanted to catch him.
Was it to earn acknowledgment from her family and father?
That was part of the reason, but not all of it.
Watching Ivan leap into the river without hesitation and refuse to surrender the lead, Miliana thought.
‘I don’t want to lose.’
That emotion did not originate in the fear that her family might ignore her forever.
There was no reason. She simply did not want to lose. She wanted to win.
For the first time, Miliana’s own heart burned with an intense desire for something.
So she had no choice but to move, even when she felt ready to collapse.
‘If I give up now.’
That would hurt even more.
Perhaps this was the first time she had ever put her entire being into something.
After jumping into the river, Miliana forced her already exhausted body to move.
Strangely, although her body was unimaginably weary, her mind became infinitely clear.
As though entering a trance, Miliana moved her creaking limbs through the water.
‘Just a little farther.’
The pain gradually disappeared. Exhilaration welled from deep within Miliana alongside an overflowing sense of ecstasy.
If she went just a little farther, she felt certain she could catch Ivan.
But it was a ridiculous delusion.
Putting her entire being into the effort did not make her body’s limits vanish.
“Gah!”
Miliana expelled a heavy breath. Sudden weakness overcame her, and her body grew impossibly heavy.
‘Why......?’
She would reach him if she went only a little farther.
Miliana reached toward Ivan’s back, which remained beyond her grasp.
But the current mercilessly swept her away.
Miliana had no strength left to resist.
Her body began to sink regardless of her will.
The depth of the river pressed down upon her, and the current swallowed her again and again.
“Ah......”
Realizing she could not return to the surface no matter how she struggled, Miliana stopped moving.
So she could not reach him after all... She had tried so hard.
Until the very end, she had failed not only to surpass Ivan but even to catch him.
“......”
Miliana closed her eyes with an empty expression.
She had no strength left to move. That meant elimination from the test.
Everything would end here.
Anger surged inside her, yet at the same time, she felt relieved.
Unlike the churning surface, the river beneath was utterly still.
There, Miliana felt a sense of liberation as she let everything go.
She could simply sink without thinking about anything.
Then at least she could feel at peace for a short while.
Miliana gave a faint smile and released her final breath.
Whoosh.
At that moment, she saw it dimly. A hand reaching toward her.
She wanted to push it away, but foolishly, Miliana could not.
In the end, even at the final moment, Miliana had failed to let go of everything.
***
“Ivan is even more interesting than I thought.”
Kainik chuckled as he watched the trainees taking the test.
Countless trainees appeared on the screens in the observation room, but Kainik’s gaze had remained fixed on only one person: Ivan.
“I like him.”
The smile on his lips deepened.
Ivan had left the canyon faster than anyone through overwhelming stamina and mental strength.
But that was not what had caught Kainik’s attention.
Even though Miliana was a competitor, Ivan had reached out to a trainee in danger without hesitation.
In truth, he could have simply ignored her and continued onward. Even if he had, no one would have blamed him.
But Ivan had not done that.
He had deliberately turned around and retraced his path to save his competitor, Miliana.
Some might call Ivan an idiot for willingly putting himself at a disadvantage, but those were the idiots Kainik liked most.
“Then shall I get going?”
That did not mean he intended to go easy on Ivan.
On the contrary, seeing that had convinced him to push Ivan even harder.
Without strength, Ivan’s behavior was nothing more than reckless bravado.
Furthermore, if this had been a real operation with an enemy in pursuit, a single choice like that could have cost both of them their lives.
That was why Kainik wanted to find out.
Was Ivan’s action born of confidence, or merely the reckless bravado of a foolish delusion?
Would Ivan make the same choice after being driven to the edge of a cliff?
In an instant, Kainik’s expression turned frighteningly cold.