Caren stared at the rope and took a deep breath.
How had it appeared around his hand?
Those blue sparks…
They looked just like the sparks that had appeared around the masked creature’s hand earlier, when it attacked Caren.
Then an odachi had appeared in the masked creature’s hand—just like the rope that was now wrapped around Caren’s hand.
“Are they the same kind of thing?”
Caren hesitantly touched the rope, expecting something bad to happen.
“What is it?
I mean, it’s just a thin rope.”
Caren’s mind automatically focused on the Dead Guide, and new texts appeared in front of him.
“Huh?
What is this?”
Spoil: The Dead Guide
Grade: Belittled
“Grade?
So this thing has a grade!
But what is Drop?
Is it random, or does it mean something?”
Caren let out a soft sigh.
There was no way he could understand it right now.
It could wait until later.
Level: Perfect
Level?
Why was there a level when it already had a grade?
That made no sense.
As Caren continued reading, his face twisted.
Those words…
Reason: A girl, one of the biggest liars in the world, tried to kill a boy.
But she didn’t know that the boy was a monster.
Caren narrowed his eyes.
Was the reason necessary?
It was just…
annoying.
Of course it was mentioning Caren.
He shook his head and continued reading.
Tags: Control
Effects: You have your favorite and lovely pet.
Caren’s eyes widened.
A pet?
What even was a pet?
Had they turned Ren into a pet?
Caren shivered.
That was sick.
“But…
just this once?
Yeah, that won’t hurt.”
Caren stared at the thin rope for a few more seconds, then whispered,
“Appear.”
But nothing happened.
Caren turned his head, looking for his pet, but there was nothing unusual around him.
He repeated himself, this time in a louder voice.
“Appear.”
Caren frowned.
Then he took a deep breath and shouted,
“Appear!”
How the hell was this thing supposed to work?
Did he need something?
Was he missing something?
Caren focused on the thin rope this time, expecting something different to happen.
“Uh, this isn’t going to work.”
Caren didn’t move a muscle. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Something was moving against him, rubbing itself against his body.
Caren slowly lowered his head and looked at the thing.
A little creature.
It was red, with small horns on its head.
It had no ears and no eyes either.
It was kind of like a little puppy, moving around on four legs.
Caren slowly and carefully took a step back, but the creature hugged his leg.
“Uh…
hello, little thing…
Are…
are you my pet?”
The creature lifted its head and looked at Caren.
“Heant.”
“Huh?”
“Heant, heant.”
Caren looked at the terrifying yet somehow cute little creature.
“Is…
is that how you make sounds?
Um…”
Caren hesitantly knelt down and looked at the creature.
His hands were shaking, but he still placed one hand on its head and gently patted it.
“Um, I guess…
you’re my first Spoil.
Dead Guide.
Uh, I have to find another name for you.”
But it couldn’t be Ren, could it?
Maybe there was a monster…
because Ren had a monster of her own.
The one that killed Caren.
He couldn’t understand it for now.
How had a Spoil appeared out of nowhere?
He mumbled to himself and looked ahead, toward the structure.
His way home.
He didn’t know what was waiting for him.
A monster?
Traps?
Anything was possible.
Caren had two attempts left, so he couldn’t risk losing another one.
And this was the last time he could use Death Cheater.
“That’s such bullshit.
I didn’t even choose to be here.”
Caren shook his head.
There was no point in complaining about it.
All he could do was survive, escape from this place, go home, and forget about everything that had happened here.
But…
his dad didn’t remember him.
What about his mom?
Caren was sure there had to be a way to make them remember who he was.
If he couldn’t make them remember him…
well, there would be no point in living.
At least, not for him.
Caren sneered at himself.
“I wanted to kill myself, but now…
uh, I actually did die.
That bridge…
it started everything.
But how?
How and why me?
Why did I survive?”
That couldn’t have been random.
Was something controlling his life?
“Sorry, but I won’t let anyone control me. New chapters come out on g.com first.
I’m the one who gets to control my own life.”
Caren looked at Ren.
She was lying there on the ground, her face pale and her eyes closed.
“What do you think?
Uh…
It feels a little lonely.”
He looked at the Dead Guide.
“Come on, little one.
Let’s go.”
Caren stood up, looked around one last time, and started walking.
The Dead Guide followed him.
Neither of them made a sound, as if the Dead Guide knew that it had to stay quiet.
The structure was close.
He could clearly see it, but it felt like an eternity away.
The sand felt too soft and heavy beneath his feet.
His legs started to shake.
Caren bit his lower lip.
He stood in front of the entrance to the structure.
“It’s fine.
I can do this.”
Caren stepped inside, but…
something was standing in front of him.
It was dark.
Caren couldn’t see what it was.
Before Caren could react, it attacked, plunging its hands into Caren’s stomach.
Caren looked down.
One second, he was standing there.
The next, he was bleeding.
The creature was there.
Just a black…
Caren wasn’t sure what it was.
It was simply dark.
Nothing else.
One second later, he wasn’t bleeding anymore, and the creature was nowhere to be seen.
“Eh?
I…”
Caren clenched his teeth.
“Let’s just get out of here.”
Caren stepped forward, this time moving faster.
He had no time to waste.
He entered the structure.
It was dark everywhere.
Caren couldn’t see anything or anyone.
He was alone, somewhere he couldn’t see a thing.
But then he saw a light.
It wasn’t too near or too far away.
Caren couldn’t tell how large the structure was.
Was it because of the darkness…
or was the structure itself making him see things?
“Fuck it.
Whatever.”
Caren shivered from the cold.
Unlike the desert, the structure was freezing.
But how?
He had no idea.
Caren stopped.
There was the light.
A stone slab was mounted on the wall.
On it…
four handprints were painted.
It looked like some kind of fingerprint scanner for entering a secret room.