Caren stared at Ren, then coughed up blood, a blank look on his face.
He understood.
Realization hit him like a punch to the gut, knocking the breath out of him.
He understood it now—not why this was happening or how to stop it.
He wanted to admit it, but…
Maybe it was because he was dying.
Maybe it was because he wanted to try again.
Or maybe he wanted to show her that she couldn’t make fun of him.
He had realized something he never expected to understand.
He looked back at the creature for a second, then turned to Ren again.
“Yo…
you kn…
know, I didn’t expect this…
b…
but, I WILL KILL YOU.”
His voice was dry, with none of the softness it had before.
Ren raised her eyebrows, then spoke without hesitation.
“Don’t take it personally.
We’re both stuck here.
But there’s a way out, and only one person can use it.
I want to survive.”
The creature cut off Caren’s head as easily as cutting through butter.
His head fell to the ground, and…
Caren opened his eyes.
He was next to Ren.
She was asleep, looking so peaceful, almost like a kid.
Caren frowned and looked at his knife.
He tightened his grip on it, but only let out a dry sigh.
He couldn’t kill her.
At least not for now.
He didn’t know how to reach that structure, and he needed her.
Caren glanced around, then at his hand.
Did he really want to kill her?
Just like that?
Could he really see it as an easy decision?
No, that wasn’t the point.
Caren wanted it to be an easy decision, and of course…
it wasn’t that hard.
The hardest part was staying calm, doing nothing, and waiting.
Death Cheater?
That wasn’t enough.
He couldn’t beat those creatures with just that.
Caren sneered.
He couldn’t die, and he couldn’t survive!
How did he expect to kill that girl?
He placed his hands over his face.
He had chosen to try one last time, so he had to try as hard as he could.
Caren made the texts appear and looked for something.
Temporary Power: Death Cheater
Remaining Attempts: 3
“Oh, so nice!”
Three attempts.
He had three more attempts left.
After that, everything would be over.
But…
did he have anything to lose?
Nobody would even notice.
Even his parents didn’t know him anymore.
He had already lost his life.
He had lost from the beginning; he couldn’t connect with people, and that was…
no, that didn’t matter.
He would survive.
He would survive for himself, not for anyone else.
He heard a sound and turned toward Ren.
Her eyes slowly opened, and then she yawned.
She looked at Caren with a soft smile.
“Oh, morning.
Are you ready to escape from here?”
Caren raised his eyebrows, then smirked.
“Yeah, yeah.
Let’s just leave.”
Ren stretched her body, then jumped to her feet.
“Too impatient?
But that’s understandable.
Yeah, let’s just leave.”
She started to leave, but then stopped.
She turned her head and looked at Caren.
“Nice that you have a weapon.
We really needed one.”
Then she started walking again.
Caren cursed under his breath and followed her.
When he stepped outside, he felt the heat of the desert.
The sand beneath his feet was soft, unlike the situation he was in.
Caren quickened his pace to catch up with Ren.
He hesitated for a second.
Ren looked at him and smirked.
“Have something to say?”
Caren nodded.
“Are you sure you know how to get out of here?”
Ren tilted her head, then pouted.
“Of course I know.
What do you think I am?
A psychopath who enjoys scamming people in a jungle and a desert full of monsters?”
She shook her head.
“Shame on you.”
Caren tightened his grip on the knife.
Yeah, he was sure she was a psychopath.
And yes, she kind of enjoyed killing him.
If it weren’t for that structure, Caren would have killed her multiple times already.
“Uh, I never thought I’d say this, but I really want to kill her.
I want to kill her so badly that I don’t care what happens.”
Caren bit his lower lip.
This wasn’t good.
He knew he shouldn’t get used to killing.
“Just this once.
Okay?
After that, I won’t kill anyone.
Yeah, just this one time.”
Caren made the texts appear.
Temporary Power: Death Cheater: Remaining Attempts: 3
“It’s better to end everything this time.
I don’t want to fail.”
Caren closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
Then he felt Ren stop walking.
He stopped too.
“What’s wrong?”
Ren pointed ahead, her voice dry.
A slight tremor could be seen in her eyes.
Caren looked in the direction she was pointing.
There was a rat with yellow eyes.
Other than that, it looked completely normal.
Caren turned back to Ren.
“Are you scared of a rat?!
Come on…”
He glanced at the rat again.
His eyes widened, and his throat went completely dry.
“Oh shit.”
He couldn’t count them.
There were dozens of rats, their yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.
Then they squealed and rushed toward them.
Caren turned to run, but…
they had already surrounded the two of them.
He looked at Ren with wide eyes.
“Ren, WHAT SHOULD WE…”
He didn’t finish.
The look on Ren’s face told him everything.
Caren’s grip on his knife loosened.
“Third attempt.
I lost my third attempt.”
The wave of rats attacked them, knocking both of them to the ground.
Despite his indifference to death, Caren started screaming.
The rats began biting him, tearing into his skin with their tiny teeth.
Caren opened his mouth to scream, but a rat crawled inside and started gnawing on his teeth.
“Hhhh…
hhhhh…”
Caren could hear Ren screaming too.
Unlike him, she couldn’t escape death…
so?
The rats bit into his eyes.
He couldn’t see anything.
There was nothing but overwhelming pain.
Caren wanted to raise his hand, but he couldn’t feel it.
He tried to kick the rats away…
but he couldn’t feel his legs either.
After a while, he couldn’t even hear the rats anymore.
Until eventually, he couldn’t feel the pain either.