I placed a bundle of pasta into the pot and some beef into the frying pan. I cooked up a steak and carbonara sauce after roughly looking up the recipe online. Then I drizzled the steak with sauce and garnished it with vegetables. I also plated the carbonara with garnishes.

It would be lackluster to only have western cuisine, so I cooked a pot of rice and kimchi stew with pork neck.

All in all, the entire meal could feed more than ten people. I set all the food in front of Rachel.

“Thank you.”

She didn’t decline the feast.

Rachel initially tried to mind her table manners, but slowly became a pig. Her eyes widened like Evandel whenever she took a bite. I couldn’t help but find it adorable.

I looked out the window and thought about a few things as Rachel stuffed herself. This stage took place in South Korea during the year 2018. I used to rent this two bedroom unit with a twenty million won deposit and six hundred thousand won a month in rent as a novel writer. Of course, I knew the door’s passcode since I used to live here. The code had been my birthday.

I always missed this world where neither mana nor monsters existed. However, I wondered how the General Assembly recreated this world. How did it know about my existence? And why did Rachel choose this stage out of the numerous options available?

“

Fwah…”

Rachel’s satisfied sigh woke me from my thoughts. Only empty plates remained on the table. I looked at the clock and seven minutes had passed since she began eating.

“Are you alright now?”

Rachel came back to her senses at my question and put on a serious, yet relaxed expression.

“Yes…”

“How was it? Good?”

“It was…”

Her eyes sparkled and she subconsciously licked her lips.

S

seup

!

Then she continued in a trembling voice.

“This is my first time… How can something… so delicious exist?”

I ended up laughing.

Her reaction might be normal since Young Dwarf’s Dexterity played a role, but the saying also went that the most delicious ingredient was one’s hunger.

“That’s a relief.”

“Did you learn how to cook? It seems like you’ve been cooking for decades!”

“Not at all. Anyways, I’ll keep cooking for you at least until this stage ends.”

“…!”

Rachel looked at me full of emotions. Then she glanced back and forth between me and the empty dishes on the table. It seemed she felt quite overwhelmed. However, she soon composed herself.

“Hajin…”

She sounded serious, so I silently waited for the conversation that would finally happen. Rachel stared at me for a while and pondered what to ask first.

“I have a lot of things I want to know.”

She said before sighing.

Why did you kill James Finley? Why did you suddenly appear out of nowhere and help me? Why did you treat me so harshly?

She decided not to ask these questions and would wait until I mentioned them first. Rachel decided to ask about something else.

“Where do you think this world is?”

However, I hoped that she wouldn’t ask this one question and bitterly smiled.

***

We walked through the streets early in the afternoon towards the recent zombie murder scene to find out more about this stage and its clear condition.

“Seems like we won’t be able to enter,” I grumbled.

The crime scene hadn’t been far from my house, but the police had sealed it off with yellow tape like in the movies. Numerous forensic experts and police patrolled the premises.

“

Ah

, wait a minute. There are some traces over there.”

Rachel closed her eyes and extended a finger. A small spirit that looked like a water droplet appeared from her index finger.

“

Hooo…”

She blew on the spirit and it set off. The spirit flew towards the crime scene like a dandelion seed. It stayed on the ground for a while before returning to Rachel.

“What did you do?”

“I communicated with the earth spirit there.”

“

Ah…

”

The ability seemed similar to psychometry.

“…”

Rachel placed the spirit on her finger and closed her eyes.

I quietly stood until she finished receiving the spirit’s memories, but someone seemed to be observing us. I initially thought it might be an enemy, but the gaze didn’t feel hostile. It seemed quite favorable.

“

Ah…

”

It didn’t take long for me to figure it out. The beauty standing beside me stood out more than anyone else on this entire street. Rachel attracted everyone’s attention by simply breathing. Even the police guarding the perimeters stole glances at her as if mesmerized by her beauty.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“I found out what happened.” Rachel opened her eyes with a determined look.

“There’s a spell related to the undead that…

Huh?

”

“Wait a minute.” I interrupted her and took off my cap to put it on her.

Rachel tilted her head at me.

“I think it’ll be better if you wear this instead of me. After all, there are only Asians…”

The cap immediately slid down without a push. It looked cute on her small head.

“

Hmm…

Let’s make it look more hip-hop.”

I slightly turned the cap to make it look more hip.

“It looks good on you even though it’s a bit big…”

I complimented her without much thought and Rachel smiled underneath the oversized cap. Her beautiful eyes formed an elegant arc that also looked cute. My heart skipped a beat, but I pretended to act normal.

“

Ehem

…

Let’s go somewhere else to discuss.”

I faked a cough.

***

Rachel’s spirit told her what happened in detail.

A sorcerer who worshiped the undead had been behind the zombie murder incident.

“So to summarize… stopping that guy is the clear condition for this stage?”

“I think so too, but…” Rachel paused and nervously looked at me.

“Can you speak to me comfortably… like you used to?”

I thought about what she meant. She was probably referring to how I spoke to her as Xtra.

“

Huh?

No, at that time… well… I forced myself to act like that so my identity wouldn’t be discovered. I actually had a hard time talking down to you.”

“You sounded quite comfortable and you seemed to be having fun.”

Rachel retorted while pouting.

I awkwardly scratched my neck. However, looking at her pouting made me want to talk comfortably again. Honestly, her pouting face reminded me of Evandel.

“Sure, then I’ll be talking comfortably with you.”

“Pardon?”

“I said I’ll speak comfortably.”

Did she perhaps not expect this? Rachel seemed surprised and spaced out before finally nodding.

“O-Okay, but you can keep talking formally if you find it uncomfortable—”

“It’s fine. Anyways, we should probably look for those guys, right?”

“Y-Yes, that’s correct.”

“Any ideas?”

“I do have one, but…” Rachel summoned her spirit that looked like a water droplet again.

“This spirit can guide us.”

“Alright.”

I took out a mask that I prepared. The gas mask made me look cheap, so I crafted a different one while Rachel ate.

She looked at me.

“That’s…?”

“It’s a mask.”

“I know.”

Rachel squinted as if to say,

Do you think I’m that stupid?

Then she reached out to touch the mask.

I suddenly froze. She had been doing quite a lot of things that weren’t good for my heart.

“What symbol is this?”

“A lotus.”

The Tower of Wish kept giving me items related to a lotus, so I purposely drew one on my new mask as well.

“

Ah

, lotus… a lotus?” Rachel muttered with a strange look as if trying to recall something.

“Why?”

“Nothing, it just feels like I’ve seen it somewhere. Maybe I’m mistaken…”

Rachel sighed and gave up on trying to remember. She put on the cap and gas mask that I used before.

“Oh, take this.”

I took out a smartphone and explained, “Our smartwatches don’t work here, so we’ll have to keep in touch with these.”

“

Ah

, yes…”

Rachel fiddled with the Apple iPhone.

“Will you use a smartphone too?”

“

Ah

, I’ll be using my smartwatch since I already synchronized it.”

“Synchronize?”

“Yeah, you can do it through your license. I have a lot of contribution points, you see.”

“…”

Rachel didn’t say anything and extended out her hand. She seemed to be asking for my smartphone.

I smiled and gave it to her.

“It’s different from mine.”

“Yeah, this model is called a Galaxy.”

“

Ah…

”

Tap Tap—

Rachel pressed on the screen with two fingers. She fiddled without knowing how to use it and pressed on every pretty icon.

I became distracted for a second when Rachel suddenly flinched.

“

Huh?

”

She stared at my smartphone in serious shock.

What happened all of a sudden?

I slowly grew nervous and took my phone from her when I saw that she had opened my gallery. The phone had been synced to the gallery on my smartwatch. My heart sank when I thought she saw Evandel’s pictures.

“W-Why… why is my picture…”

“

Hmm?

”

Fortunately, she didn’t know how to scroll through and only saw one of hers. I inwardly sighed in relief. Then I realized there was nothing to be relieved about.

“Wait a second. Please give that back.”

She reached for the phone again, but I turned away and shielded it from her.

“Hajin.”

She extended her hand out with a serious look. Her cheeks became a bit flushed, but I didn’t know if she felt ashamed or embarrassed.

“

Huh?

”

“G-Give that to me.”

“Give what?”

“I saw my picture just now.”

“

Ah

, that one? I can explain. No, I’ll explain.”

I found myself speaking formally to her.

Rachel tried all sorts of things to take my phone. I raised it above my head, but she tried to jump for it. Our height difference wasn’t huge, so she almost succeeded.

“Wait! Wait! I can explain!”

“I don’t need your explanation. I’ll see for myself because I think I saw it wrong.”

“No, you can’t! This is my phone!”

“But I’m certain I saw my picture just now?”

“I said I’ll explain what happened—”

“Give that to me!”

“Waiiiit!”

***

Two hours later…

The spirit guided us to Bukhan Mountain. The air between us contained a hint of awkwardness because of the ruckus over my phone.

“…”

“…”

The night turned cold and dark. Rachel continued guiding without a word and I quietly followed.

“It should be around here somewhere.

Hmm…

”

She seemed conscious of me and I also felt awkward as hell. However, I tried my best not to show it.

“Is it…” I awkwardly replied.

Rachel’s spirit roughly found the location where they secretly gathered, but couldn’t pinpoint their exact hiding spot on this vast mountain.

We aimlessly wandered as owls hooted and the full moon barely shone through the trees.

“

Uhmm…

” Rachel awkwardly kicked the dead leaves on the ground as she walked.

“Yes?” I replied while scratching my neck.

She glanced at me and sighed before looking at the night sky.

“I’m just saying this in case…”

I listened to her without a word. She would probably mention the picture again. I wondered if I should sincerely apologize or deny being a stalker. Of course, I chose to sincerely apologize since that seemed like the best course of action.

“I… I’m not able to receive someone’s love or love someone… I’m not in the position to do that…”

“What?”

“I’ll be like that for a long time. No, probably for the rest of my life. I won’t be able to receive or love anyone.”

She began spouting strange nonsense. I looked at her in disbelief and made sure my expression clearly expressed how I felt about all of this. However, she kept avoiding my gaze.

“So just in case you’re—”

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Rachel couldn’t continue.

“Who are you?!”

Someone suddenly shouted and…

Grrwuooook!

A huge amount of dirt covered the sky like a landslide crashing down on us.