That's good—really good. But somehow, it got even more awesome.
After a while, David finished his turn and said,
"Hear me out, everyone—except me, because I'm playing, it's my turn."
Then he continued,
"Mei and Jian, please—I beg of you—please teach us martial arts. Make monks out of us, please."
They both looked at each other and replied,
"I don't know… martial arts is an art. It's tradition. That's not something kids like us should be teaching—or something kids like you should be learning."
But David said,
"At the cost of survival, we have no choice but to get into it.
Even if it's just for a week—please, I beg of you."
Mei answered,
"I don't know… we still haven't made a plan that will help us escape. So why bother?"
Then he said,
"If you guys teach us, I'll leave your walls connected. How about that?"
She said,
"I don't know… but are you actually hearing yourself?
You're planning to return the wall if I refuse?"
Everyone was shocked.
But to be honest—I'm the one who made her say that.
From the moment David contacted her, I used my telepathic ability to save the situation.
I told Jian to go play the hero.
He hugged her and said,
"Now, now… let's not cross the line. We're all here to help.
You don't need to bargain with us for anything—we're part of this group, aren't we?"
Then he said,
"Please forgive me. I thought you wouldn't even consider us allies.
yet—here you are, calling us friends."
That's the moment David gained everyone's trust—because they all comforted him.
Dante said,
"You're really stressed about this whole situation, and you keep playing the hero every time.
Hey—get your fuckin' ass off the PlayStation.
Play this game. And that one too. Hey—move, Kurai, you big goof!"
And then I said,
"Fine, damn,"
and gave him the place.
Then after that, we all went on a rampage, playing RPG games turn by turn. I stood up and said,
"Huh… okay, here you go, guys. Damn, playing games like kids,"
after two straight hours of gameplay.
Then I stood next to Lyra and spoke to her telepathically:
"So, how's it going? Is he playing along?"
She responded,
"Yeah, everything is perfect. Everyone's excited about the plan and believing in David more than usual.
Rim kept talking about how much he surprised her."
I said,
"Good. That's good."
Then she added,
"But Mei seems to be chill—like she doesn't care about anything.
She's still not showing excitement.
I guess it's because she only cares about her boyfriend."
"Good to know," I replied, then called Mei telepathically.
She said,
"Wait… what? Who's calling me?"
I paused and added,
"Yes."
She quickly realized it was thought-to-thought communication. She even heard Lyra's voice.
I said,
"So, I heard you performed well."
She replied,
"Yeah. Thanks for whatever you did. I got to meet Jian."
I said,
"You already know her, but you two should get to know each other properly."
Then Mei said,
"My name is Mei."
Lyra answered,
"My name is Lyra. I like your hair—it really looks good."
Mei said,
"Thanks! And I like your shape. You work out, right?"
And just like that, they faked a first-time meeting and started an original, casual chat.
Then they began planning how to become monks—not for real, but just trying to work out like them.
When they asked,
"What about you?"
I said,
"I'm not part of your little exercise plan, bro."
They all stared. Taeyang said,
"Why?"
The girls sighed. Dante said,
"Here he goes…"
and they started talking.
Jian said,
"I wanna challenge you to a duel."
I asked,
"What duel?"
He replied,
"It's clear now that this place can't be used for a proper duel unless we make it one.
And we clearly don't have the time for that."
He tore off his shirt, struck a bodybuilder pose, and said,
"Yeah."
The yosuke laughed and said,
"What's that? A boob or something?"
Then he flexed his chest and said,
"This is real body."
We all started posing and ended up arm wrestling each other, while the girls just got lost watching the chaos unfold.
Days passed.
We worked out every single day. We worked, we worked, we worked—until we lost our sanity.
We continued meditating, staying focused on one and only one thing: mana.
We started to control our mana, day in and day out.
Eventually, everyone began using their magic.
I trained harder than anyone else—because I didn't use magic in front of them.
In truth,
I couldn't actually use magic—just skills, attacks, defense mechanisms, and so on.
Then they told us that sleep was necessary.
We grew weaker. The AI provided gym equipment, but still, we pushed through.
Days later, we started to see changes—one by one, we all began to grow stronger.
One day, we sat on the ground in a circle.
Jian said,
"Let's begin with you. After all these days of meditation, what did it tell you?"
Then he paused… and cried.
Tears began to fall from his eyes.
When someone tried to move toward him, Jian stopped them.
"Nobody moves. Let him talk. He needs to overcome it and speak."
Then David spoke:
"I was born in a rich family…"
Everyone listened in silence.
"…My father was an amazing man, a good person.
When I was three, they told me he was gone, that he'd come back after I grew up.
I believed them… until I eventually found out—he had died long ago."
He took a shaky breath and continued:
"After that, it was just me, my mom, and my sister.
Years later, my uncle—my dad's youngest brother—came with his family to visit us.
They moved into our area, and since our house was large, we invited them to live with us.
We lived together, like one big family... until one day, my uncle killed my mom using a drug."
Gasps rippled around the circle, but no one interrupted.
"From that moment on," David said, "the house I once loved became hell.
It got even worse when I learned the truth:
They killed my father the same way.
Every holiday, every weekend became a day I wished I never existed.
And I knew… I knew one day, they'd kill me too."
His voice trembled as he continued:
"All of this… was for money.
They could've just asked my dad—he would've helped them start a business.
So why?
Why did they have to kill my parents?"
Silence fell.
(To be continued)