"After news of your survival was known, we were tasked to eliminate the imposter. Everyone at HQ was aware of your supposed death at that point, but we wanted to verify for ourselves."

  Why am I talking? I didn't want to say any of that!

  Tivian panicked.

  "Bwahaha!" Agnus laughed. "Aren't you usually tight-lipped? I've never seen you this scared or stupid."

  The higher-ups of the organization think I'm a fake? Well, it's not like they're Abnas, so of course resurrection would be inconceivable to them. But I'm sure someone would've checked to see if my corpse was still there.

  "That's not my biggest concern right now." Hezekiah stamped his ankle. Tivian yelped in agony, perplexed as to why he was still upset. "You spoke with such conviction about my sister earlier, after all, you despise traitors. So explain to me what you did."

  Cold sweat descended on his neck, his pulse heightened as he already felt his mouth moving. He looked to his side, but his companions remained still, observing.

  "I-I aided in her capture! But I don't know what happened to her afterwards!" he blurted.

  Considering he's forced to obey my commands, he wouldn't be able to leave anything out. Lucky him. If I didn't create this Custom Boundary, he wouldn't be breathing right now.

  "That's it? Well, at the minimum, I expected that much." He turned his attention towards the other two. "It's not like we had some bond with each other, why verify I'm truly Hezekiah first?"

  "Because despite what the organization said, it inevitably aroused suspicion when you were discovered to be alive," Yuvis responded, crossing his arms. "Questions arose—did they fake your death? Why would they keep a traitor alive? That's a slap to everyone who's been loyal."

  Agnus raised his hand. "Which is why I suggested we investigate first, but Tivian here seemed to be very brazen today. I'm sure you can guess why now."

  Hezekiah stood in silence for a bit before stepping off Tivian's ankle. "If he would've used his words first, maybe something could've been worked out."

  Yeah, it makes sense. His best friend was in a similar situation as my sister, except his outcome was pretty straightforward.

  "It's not fair," he whispered. Tivian tried to lift himself, steadying himself against the wall. "Why do you two get to live?"

  What a bunch of misunderstandings. I was killed, but of course, the organization couldn't predict this. They probably really do believe I'm an imposter.

  Hezekiah lifted a smile. I could use this.

  "Wha-what’s so funny?" Tivian questioned.

  "That Sunset Garden is capable of such a blunder, that's all."

  Agnus and Yuvis exchanged looks with each other, subtly confirming their suspicions.

  "We were one of the few that saw your corpse personally—or at least we thought we did. Everyone else only saw a photograph on the private servers. So it wasn't surprising that everyone else remained a bit doubtful," Yuvis informed as his gauntlet lights faded.

  "Based off your response, Hezekiah, sounds like Sunset Garden tried to cover something up. Care to spill the details?" Agnus extended his hand. "I'm sure you have a good reason to be doing all this."

  "And if it's lacking? You'll just kill me and report back. If you truly believe I'm a covered-up traitor, then this is simply the organization's way of getting rid of me for real this time."

  "Always the cautious one, weren't you?" Agnus smirked.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  "Just having a little fun, that's all. But if you're that curious, I'll have you know that there was never a traitor."

  "You don't honestly expect us to believe that?" Tivian argued. "The evidence was overwh—"

  "Evidence? And it was evident that I was dead, yet here I am. Strange, isn't it?"

  Tivian locked his teeth, searching for a rebuttal.

  "Let it go, Tivian. You said it yourself—you don't know what happened to my sister afterwards, and neither do I. Usually, a live execution of a traitor is the procedure, but yet none existed for either of us. Just think on that before opening your mouth."

  Unlike the other three, he actually knew more about Falina's whereabouts. Kiann already confirmed that he was supposed to die in her place, while she became their boss’s toy.

  "Damn, that is kinda odd. Now that I think about it, the corpse's face was pretty mangled to accurately tell who it was. I know I said we should dig deeper into this, but this is definitely information that could get us killed, isn't it?" Agnus humored.

  "Welcome to my world. You know if any members see you conversing with me, the higher-ups may twist it and frame it like you were conspiring with the imposter."

  "You're suggesting we're now accomplices in this?" Yuvis asked, slightly frowning.

  "Who knows? Depends on the evidence."

  Agnus scratched his head. "Some sticky stuff, huh? I like snooping and all, but meddling more might bite us in the heel. Do you see anyone around, Yuvis?"

  "Even you get cold feet? Don't you think it's safer if we erase Hezekiah for good? If he's speaking the truth, our lives may be on the line if we back out now."

  They're all within my Custom Boundary. I could do whatever I want to them, but I'd have to write the rule first. But killing them may not benefit me the most.

  "This is Hezekiah we're talking about. I won't do him in like that—especially since I still owe him. You got no grudges against him, right? So let's leave it to someone else."

  Yuvis carefully scanned his surroundings. Departing a low sigh, he lightly nodded.

  "Only because you refuse to help, I'm allowing this. If this ever gets out, I have something up my sleeve. You're on your own," he warned.

  "Jeez, aren't you scary." He turned towards Tivian, who was still bewildered in thought. "There you have it, Tivian. He may not be a traitor, but you're free to fight him if you want. But if you lose however, we're afraid we can't let you report back."

  Tivian's shoulders spiked. He balled his hands, giving Hezekiah a cold stare before returning to the other two.

  "By the way, how many are currently tasked to hunt me?"

  "Eight, including us," Tivian blankly responded. His brows slanted at his own words, still perplexed by his impulsive responses.

  "Aww, I knew you still trusted him." Agnus patted him on the back. "Best of luck, Tank."

  The three left the alleyway. He rested against the wall, letting his heart relax.

  So their search has already started. But the fact that everyone is suspicious of the higher-ups is good news. It might make others hesitant to kill me. I wonder why they only assigned eight though.

  An hour has gone by—plenty of time for the trio to gain distance from him. He exited the narrow passage, contemplating if he wanted to continue.

  Imposter or not, they're probably expecting my arrival, especially if assassins are after me. A sneak attack is improbable to pull off then. And drawing a Custom Boundary around the place is not worth considering.

  He pinched his forehead. Two weeks have passed, and Falina's rescue may already be delayed again. A brief moment of charging in and burning everything surfaced, but that may attract other unwanted guests.

  Although he discovered that it's not completely impossible to take created items outside the Custom Boundary, after learning about the potential drawbacks from the frog, indulging in that behavior may lead to undesirable outcomes.

  He softly breathed.

  Either way, he had to choose.

  He summoned the rule sheet. It was blank. He remembered a Rules Dictionary being mentioned. He had somewhat figured out what words he could or couldn't write, but some things still felt unclear.

  He resumed his path, wishing to see the Rules Dictionary. An ocean of words appeared, with a space on top that resembled a search bar.

  I did say I needed to go through this, but increasing my knowledge on this power can only help me. I don't want to write a rule that is invalid while I'm in the midst of conflict.

  Still being aware of his surroundings, he flipped through its pages, even writing certain words in the space above to see if they even existed in the list.

  It's as I thought. Words like "I", "us", "we" are not found here. Generally, anything that could directly imply me. But I still found a way to write myself into the rules in the hospital. Was the design intentional?

  He even discovered that no names existed in the dictionary. He even saw a few words that weren't even written in his language but were just a bunch of symbols. Another thing he was curious about is whether the dictionary applied to the Custom Boundary, but given it explicitly said he could write whatever he wanted in there, probably not.

  There's a lot more to this power than I thought. I'll just walk along the way as I study them. Maybe I can find a much simpler process for saving her.