Chris heaved heavily, leaning against the wall. He looked at the middle-aged man who had just called them inside.
"Thank you."
"That's nothing. But you two… killed that monster just now?"
The man's face was pale with fear and dripping with sweat.
Not only Raven, but even Chris was beginning to understand just how broken people had become in the apocalypse.
The man clutched his head and sank to his knees. He was on the verge of collapsing under panic and grief.
Raven remained indifferent, but Chris stepped forward and placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
"They… w-what is even happening right now? They attacked us suddenly… what even are they?"
The tears he had been holding back finally burst out.
"M-my wife… she…"
The words caught in his throat. Nothing came out... only his sobs, the raw grief of someone who had just lost the most important person in his life.
Raven and Chris didn't need him to finish. It was obvious what had happened.
"Daddy?"
A childish voice floated from upstairs.
A small girl, clutching a blood-stained doll, hurried down the stairs and into her father's arms.
Seeing her dad in such a state, she too couldn't stop crying. She too had witnessed her mother's death with her own eyes.
Chris froze, not knowing what to do, so he turned to Raven for guidance.
But Raven only shook his head.
There was nothing they could do.
Chris rose to his feet and stood beside Raven. His voice was low.
"This… is painful to watch."
This time, Raven did answer.
"Yeah, it is."
It wasn't pity that drove his words. Watching the child cling to her father simply pulled something out of him... a reminder of his own childhood.
At the end of the day, he was just an orphan who had never even known his parents.
Chris sighed, his chest heavy as he looked at the scene before him. Inevitably, his thoughts drifted back to his own family.
'Are they fine? Or… even alive?'
"Are you also worried about your family?" Chris asked softly.
"No."
Raven's flat answer startled him. Chris turned with a puzzled look.
"What?"
'Isn't that why he's been fighting the undead? To reach his family?'
"I'm not," Raven repeated.
"What? Are you really that cold, even toward your family? Then why the hell were you risking your life out there?"
Chris's voice rose, unable to accept what he was hearing. To him, Raven was starting to sound like a psycho.
"Hm, I wonder that too." Raven's voice was calm, almost casual. "Maybe because… I don't have a life worth living. And I'm not cold to my family. I never had one to begin with."
The words were spoken so offhandedly, but they shook Chris to his core.
He had expected Raven to have some kind of tragic past. But an orphan? That was the last thing he thought possible.
"Y-you… I—"
'Why am I the one stuck dealing with this? Watching one family break apart while realizing the guy I'm with never even had one…'
Chris's mind swirled with confusion. He didn't know how to react.
"I'm sorry," he finally muttered, hanging his head in defeat.
"You apologize a lot. Were you responsible for their deaths?" Raven asked dryly, almost as if to ground him.
It wasn't Chris's fault. None of it was. So why apologize?
Raven had been an orphan for seventeen years. He couldn't care less about sympathy.
He glanced at the man and his daughter again. Like Chris, he knew there was nothing they could do.
"Then why did you even fight those undead? You didn't even know what the system was. Are you actually insane?" Chris pressed, trying to make sense of Raven.
"I already told you, didn't I?" Raven replied.
"Yeah, you did. But you could have died!" Chris's voice cracked, his anger laced with something else... concern.
"I won't. I can't die." Raven's tone darkened, his eyes heavy with memories of the past. "Enough about that. Will you make the star, or should I?"
"You do it. You've got more fragments anyway."
Chris opened his system panel, withdrew twenty-five star fragments from his inventory, and handed them over.
"I'll return them soon," Raven said, accepting them.
Ding~
[Congratulations, Awakener. You have received 25 Star Fragments.]
[You have gathered enough fragments to complete a Star.]
Ding~
[Do you wish to form a Star?]
[Yes / No]
Raven tapped "Yes."
Before his eyes, the fragments fused, glowing as they merged into a single golden star.
Ding~
[Congratulations, Awakener. You have fused 100 Star Fragments.]
[You have collected 1 Star.]
Ding~
[Congratulations, Awakener. You have obtained the qualification to become a character inside the story.]
[Detected: Awakener is inside a Red Zone.]
[Detected: Red Zone is not clear.]
Ding~
[Quest: Clear the Red Zone. Defeat the Licht controlling the mutated undead.]
[Requirement: 1 Star.]
[Reward: 20 Stars.]
A flood of notifications filled his screen. Raven read through them carefully, but one line made him stop.
'Qualification to become a character… inside a story? Like… a storybook?'
The words were simple, yet confusing enough to twist his thoughts.
Then—
Ding~
A new notification appeared, but this time, a voice accompanied it. A voice so eerie it felt like it embedded itself into his bones.
[Congratulations, Raven. You have obtained the qualification to visit the "Tomb of the Fallen."]
Ding~
[Personal Quest: Visit the "Tomb of the Fallen."]
[Requirement: 1 Star, Be alive.]
[Reward: A message from the fallen.]
Ding~
[I will be waiting for you.]
The eerie voice disappeared after that, leaving his back drenched in cold sweat.
***
Thanks for reading.
Going premium from next chapter. Sorry about that.