"I think I'll keep you."
That sentence shouldn't sound like a death sentence. In a romance novel, it would be the start of a passionate, twisted love affair.
But here? In reality?
It sounded like a dragon deciding which sheep to save for a midnight snack.
[System Notification]
[Relationship Updated: Strangers -> 'Toy']
[Target Yoon JieMi has classified you as 'Personal Property'.]
[Note: The Target is highly possessive of his property. Do not get broken.]
"Do not get broken," I muttered under my breath. "Easy for you to say."
Yoon JieMi straightened up, towering over me once again. The oppressive killing intent that had filled the cavern receded slightly, sucked back into his skin like ink into a sponge.
He didn't offer me a hand. He didn't ask if I was okay.
He simply turned his back on me and started walking toward the dungeon exit.
"Follow me," he tossed the command over his shoulder. "If you fall behind by more than five meters, I'll assume you got bored of watching me and kill you."
"What?"
"Four meters."
"Crazy bastard," I cursed internally, forcing my shaking legs to move.
My body, this useless F-Rank body, felt like it was made of lead. Lee Yuna was weak. I could feel the dizziness swirling in my skull every time I took a step.
I scrambled over the corpse of the Raid Leader, slipping on a pool of blood. My stomach churned, threatening to empty itself, but I bit my tongue.
Don't vomit. Don't show weakness. He hates weakness.
"Wait!" I gasped, jogging to catch up to his long strides.
He didn't slow down. He stepped over a pile of rubble with the grace of a panther, his hands shoved into the pockets of his tattered tactical pants.
"You're slow," he commented, not looking back. "Stalkers are usually faster."
"I have... short legs!" I wheezed.
He stopped.
The sudden halt nearly sent me crashing into his back.
He turned his head slightly, just enough so I could see his profile. The red glow in his eyes was pulsing rhythmically.
"Short legs," he repeated, as if tasting the words.
His gaze dropped to my legs.
I was wearing the standard-issue porter uniform, drab gray cargo pants and boots that were a size too big.
"Useless," he concluded.
Then, the shadows moved.
Before I could react, a tendril of black substance shot up from the ground and wrapped around my waist.
"H-Hey!"
It yanked me forward. My feet left the ground as I was hoisted into the air like a sack of potatoes. The shadow deposited me right next to him, hovering slightly off the ground.
"Better," he said.
"Put me down!" I flailed. The shadow felt cold and slimy, like wet velvet.
"Walk fast, or be dragged," he said, his voice bored. "Choose, Dove."
Dove.
He was calling me that again.
"I'll walk," I said quickly. "I'll walk fast."
The shadow released me, dropping me unceremoniously onto the wet stone. I stumbled but caught my balance.
We walked in silence for a few minutes. The dungeon was an S-Rank 'Collapsed City' theme. Ruined skyscrapers jutted out of the cave walls, and the ceiling was a mockery of a night sky.
As the author, I knew this dungeon.
I knew that fifty meters ahead, there was a hidden chest that the original Raid Team missed.
I also knew that the Boss, a Chimera Dragon, had already been butchered by JieMi before I woke up.
But I also knew something else.
I glanced at JieMi's back.
He was walking straight, but his left shoulder was dipping slightly.
He was hiding it perfectly, but I wrote his stats.
[Target Status Update]
[Mana: 12 / 50,000 (Critically Low)]
[Physical Condition: Internal Bleeding, Fractured Ribs (x3)]
He was running on fumes.
Using the shadows to kill the raid team and intimidate me had drained him. If he fought another high-level enemy right now, he would snap.
"Hey," I spoke up, my voice small.
"Quiet," he replied instantly. "Your voice is annoying."
"You're bleeding."
He stopped again. This time, he turned fully.
He looked down at his chest, covered in layers of other people's blood.
"Not that blood," I pointed to his side. "Your ribs. Three of them are broken. And your mana pathways are overheating."
His eyes narrowed to slits. The air temperature dropped ten degrees.
"You know a lot of things," he whispered, stepping closer. "For a rat."
He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up. His fingers left bloody smears on my jaw.
"Did you use an [Inspect] skill on me?" he asked softly. "If you did... I'll have to gouge your eyes out. I hate being peeked at."
[System Alert!]
[Lie! Lie for your life!]
"No skills," I stammered, my heart hammering against his hand. "I... I just pay attention. You're favoring your left side. And you keep rubbing your sternum."
It was a half-truth.
He stared at me for a long, agonizing second. Then, he scoffed and released my chin.
"Observant little stalker."
He turned back around. "It doesn't matter. We're leaving. Once we exit, I'm going to sleep for three days. You will stand guard."
"Me?" I squeaked. "I'm an F-Rank! I can't even guard a convenience store!"
"Then you'll die," he said simply. "And I'll find a new pet."
We reached the Dungeon Gate.
It was a swirling vortex of blue energy. Beyond this lay modern-day Seoul.
And beyond this lay the real problem.
I froze.
"Wait," I said, grabbing the back of his tactical vest.
He looked at my hand touching him like I was a cockroach. "Touching me again?"
"Don't go out there," I said, my voice urgent.
"Why? Are you afraid the police will arrest you for stalking?"
"No," I shook my head. "The Awakener Authority. The 'White Tiger' strike team. They're waiting outside."
JieMi paused.
In the original novel, Chapter 1 ended with JieMi stumbling out of the dungeon, exhausted. The White Tiger team, sent by the government to 'contain' the unstable asset, ambushed him.
Because he was weak, he lost control. He went Berserk.
He slaughtered the strike team, destroyed three city blocks, and officially became the 'World's Enemy'.
It was the turning point that made his life hell.
"White Tiger..." JieMi murmured. A cruel, jagged smile split his face. "Those hypocrites in white suits?"
He cracked his neck. The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet cave.
"Good," he said, his eyes glowing brighter. "I was feeling hungry."
"No!" I jumped in front of him, blocking the gate.
He blinked, looking down at me. I barely reached his chest.
"Move," he warned. The shadows around his feet began to bubble.
"You can't fight them," I said, desperate. "You look exhausted! If you use the shadows again, your core will fracture. You won't just go berserk; you'll die!"
"I don't die," he sneered. "I've tried."
"You will this time!" I shouted. "And if you kill them... there's no going back. They'll label you a Villain. Not just a 'Dangerous Asset', but a Villain. They'll hunt you forever."
"Let them hunt," he stepped forward, pushing me aside with his shoulder. "I'll kill them all."
"Please!" I grabbed his arm again.
He snarled, shoving me backward. I tripped and fell hard onto the stone floor.
"Know your place, Dove," he spat. "You're a pet. Pets don't give orders."
He walked toward the portal.
He was going to do it. He was going to walk into the ambush, trigger the Berserk state, and ruin the story all over again.
I couldn't let it happen.
If he followed the original plot, he would suffer for another 300 chapters.
"QQ!" I screamed internally. "Shop! Open the System Shop!"
[Shop Accessed!]
[Current Points: 0]
[Wait! You received a 'First Encounter Bonus': 100 Points.]
"What can I buy with 100 points?!"
[Item: Low-Grade Invisibility Cloak (Duration: 5 min) - 500 Points]
[Item: Mana Potion (F-Rank) - 50 Points]
[Item: Sound Bomb - 100 Points]
"Sound Bomb?" No. That would just start the fight faster.
I scrolled frantically.
[Skill: 'Author's Authority - Narrative Edit (Minor)' - Cost: 100 Points]
[Effect: Allows you to change one minor detail in the immediate environment.]
This was it.
I bought it instantly.
[Points deducted. State your edit.]
I looked at the swirling blue gate.
The White Tiger team was waiting right outside the Main Entrance.
"Change the exit coordinates," I gasped. "Shift the exit point to the Emergency Ventilation Shaft... 200 meters north."
[Processing... Narrative Edit Successful.]
[Warning: This will drain the Host's stamina completely.]
The blue vortex flickered. The color shifted from azure to a sickly green.
JieMi was one step away from the gate.
"Yoon JieMi!" I yelled.
He ignored me. He stepped into the light.
I scrambled up and dove after him.
Whoosh.
The sensation of teleportation was like being shoved through a straw.
The world spun. Gravity flipped.
And then, we hit concrete.
Thud.
"Ugh!"
I landed face-first in a pile of garbage bags. The smell of rotten kimchi and wet cardboard assaulted my nose.
It was raining. Cold, miserable
Seoul rain.
I rolled over, gasping for air. My vision was blurry. The 'Narrative Edit' had taken everything out of me.
I looked up.
We were in a narrow, dark alleyway.
Not the main plaza where the strike team was waiting with tanks and snipers.
Yoon JieMi was standing a few feet away. He wasn't looking at me.
He was looking at the empty alley, then at the main street in the distance where sirens were wailing.
He could see the lights of the strike team far away.
Waiting for a monster that never showed up.
He turned slowly.
The rain plastered his black hair to his face, making him look even more like a vengeful ghost.
The red glow in his eyes was fading, replaced by exhaustion.
He looked at the distant police lights, then at me, lying in the trash.
"You..." he rasped.
He took a step toward me and stumbled.
His knees hit the pavement.
The adrenaline had worn off. His 12 Mana was gone.
He crawled toward me. It wasn't romantic. It was terrifying. He looked like a ghoul dragging itself toward a meal.
He collapsed right on top of me, his heavy head landing on my shoulder. His dead weight pinned me to the wet ground.
"You moved the gate," he mumbled into my neck, his voice slurring.
I froze, feeling his cold breath on my skin.
"How?" he whispered.
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
"Doesn't matter," he sighed, his eyes closing. "You're useful."
His arm draped over me, effectively trapping me under him.
"Don't move," he commanded, his voice barely audible. "If you move... I'll kill you."
And then, the World's Most Hated Awakener passed out.
I lay there in the rain, pinned under 80 kilograms of muscle and trauma, listening to the sirens in the distance.
[System Notification]
[Quest Complete: Survive the First Encounter.]
[Reward: Author's Privileges (Level 1) Unlocked.]
[New Quest Generated!]
[Quest: Hide the Monster.]
[Description: Take the unconscious Target to a safe location before the White Tiger team finds you.]
[Time Limit: 30 Minutes.]
"Are you kidding me?" I whispered to the rain.
I tried to push him off. He didn't budge.
I was an F-Rank weakling, and I had to drag an S-Rank unconscious giant across the city without being seen.
I looked at his sleeping face. For the first time, he looked peaceful. No frown, no killing intent. Just a tired boy.
"I hate you," I told his sleeping face.
But as I struggled to sit up, dragging his dead weight with me, I knew the truth.
I didn't hate him.
I just hated that I loved him enough to write this tragedy in the first place.
[Chapter 2 - End]