As he reached me, Red slowed and regained his composure. He coughed into his sleeve. “There you are, Maria. I’m so glad you made it.”

  “You made it too, Red.” I smiled. My heart punched the inside of my chest. “How have you been since we last saw each other?”

  He grimaced. “Just surviving. I was in Sleeping Beauty last time. Nearly died several times. What about you?”

  “Same here. One of… One of my friends died.”

  “That’s…” He shivered despite the warm sunshine. “That’s… Do you think we actually die?”

  That told me next to nothing.

  I wanted to ask him if he had murdered Rohan. I wanted to know if he had considered that he might have brought death, real death to someone.

  The thought that he might have deliberately killed my friend and was now standing here boldly questioning whether that death meant something… it almost strangled the logic out of me. I had to breathe deeply to clear my vision. Still, I couldn’t speak. Instead, I turned my face away to hide my expression.

  “I guess you’re playing the heroine this time?”

  “What about you? Who are you playing?”

  “Some random scholar.” Red shrugged, gesturing at the air as though he were pulling up his player window. “I’m supposed to try and get close to the bad magistrate guy so I can help you out when you get thrown in jail.”

  “I… Why would I get thrown in jail?”

  I rubbed the handle of the umbrella. Why was he pitying me? Because being in prison would be unpleasant? Because he thought I was being stupid?

  “You’re really a scholar?”

  “Yeah. Come on, you’re the heroine, right?”

  My head ached. I guessed my Endurance stat was for physical endurance, not mental. This emotional status tracking skill was underwhelming.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “What?”

  Red shrugged again, glancing at the other officials passing in and out of the buildings. They were casting curious looks at us. I’m sure the situation looked suggestive, but I didn’t care, right at this moment.

  “I just thought it would make sense – you’re the heroine, Sung-hyuk as the hero.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, he looks the part, doesn’t he?”

  “That’s just his avatar though. Who knows who we really are under these appearances? And –”

  “Oh no, he really does look kind of like that in real life.”

  I couldn’t help it; my head jerked up in surprised and I looked directly at Red. “What?”

  “Don’t you know?” He smiled winningly. “He’s a streamer too. Mukbangs and fashion content, mostly. He’s tweaked his appearance a bit, like adding that tattoo on his neck and making his eyes blue, but that’s mostly what he looks like.”

  Being able to see emotions really meant nothing, didn’t it? I wanted to know if he was lying or telling the truth, and Gabriel’s Ring couldn’t help me there.

  “But why would I be the heroine?”

  Red began to open his mouth, but closed it again.

  Useless fucking skill. Go to hell.

  “You’ve just got that aura, you know? Both you and Sung-hyuk… Do you have a high Charisma stat, maybe? Besides, haven’t you been the heroine in every other scenario you’ve been in?”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Red, you’ve only in been in one scenario with me. What do you mean?”

  We were staring directly at each other now.

  But Red’s expression was slightly… off, now. This was a different kind of thoughtful. He sighed and broke the tense silence. “Do you not trust me, Maria?”

  “I would say you don’t trust me either.”

  “That’s harsh. I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I? I’m telling you everything you need to know. Meanwhile, you won’t even tell me which character you’re playing.”

  “You’re talking, but how do I know you’re not lying to me -?” I had to swallow back his name. If I blurted out his real name now, he would know I had some kind of perception skill.

  “I guess you don’t…” Red sighed again. “Look…” He glanced again at the administrative buildings. “… I have to go now, but we should meet up again soon and talk properly. Not like this.” He reached into thin air and a cloth bag fell into his palm with a clatter of metal. He held it out to me. “It looks like whatever character you’ve possessed doesn’t have much money. Take this.”

  “I don’t want it.” I stood, my body language far more defensive than I would have liked. I wanted to stand daringly in front of him, defiant. Instead I was curled over like a half-cooked shrimp.

  “I’ve got heaps, Maria. Remember the first scenario for me was Jack and the Beanstalk? I got a ‘golden goose’ artifact out of it. It produces money. Take it.”

  I remembered that he had said that, it was true. He must still also have the branch of the Singing Tree from the second scenario. What would he have from the third…?

  Wait.

  He killed Rohan.

  Did he have the Golden Water too?

  Would I have to try and seriously injure him to find out?

  “Maria? You went blank there. Are you okay?”

  I looked at him again, that friendly, fresh face, and my lips moved inaudibly. “Gabriel’s Ring.”

  I had wanted to check his health points.

  Instead, my eyes focused uncontrollably on the second line.

  Tatsu Noriaki.

  His name was different.

  “Maria?”

  The only way that could be was if he had a deception skill or artifact.

  “Hello, Maria?”

  “S… Sorry, I…” Ah, fuck it. My vision began to swim, my cheeks heating up. I let the tears fall. “I just… I’m so overwhelmed by everything. I saw my friend die right in front of me and I… I don’t know if she’s really gone or… What’s going to happen to us?”

  “We’ll survive, I’m sure of it!” Red’s voice was cheerful, but his expression wavered, betraying anxiety. “We’ve just got to work together and trust each other, Maria. Please. Please work with me.”

  I sniffled. “Did you not come here with anyone else, Red?”

  “Unfortunately not,” he replied ruefully, fossicking in his robes for a handkerchief and coming up empty. “Just me, myself and I. It sounds like you had a few friends with you though.”

  I covered my face with my sleeve, sniffling and coughing until I had regained my composure. “I’m… Let’s meet again once I’ve… rested.”

  “Yeah, sure. Come on, take this.”

  I took the money.

  “Let’s meet tomorrow morning, how about that? My work starts at the Hour of the Snake, so before then?”

  “How do we even tell the time here?”

  “I’m pretty sure I saw a sundial just around the corner from here.”

  I nodded. I had to get away.

  “See you tomorrow, Maria.”

  “Bye.” I was rushing way before the word had even fully left my mouth. Away from the administrative buildings, through the village, the coins clutched to my chest. By the time I stopped, I was out of the town, surrounded by cultivated fields currently devoid of any human, alone on the wide dirt path that led into the far distance.

  Han Sung-hyuk had to be gone by now. I wondered briefly what he had to do, away from the village, away from any other player.

  This was the most isolated we had ever been. Only three players. One far away, geographically. One potentially a murderer, and a commensurate liar and deceiver.

  As useless as it was, I suddenly desperately wished that Jesse was with me. She was so capable. Was this what having an older sister would be like?

  And for once, I was glad that Tommy was nowhere to be seen. The thought of Red being anywhere near him made me feel sick.

  I sat down amongst the grass and flowers by the side of the road, and compulsively pulled up the Kill Feed. Butterflies drifted leisurely past. Celandine and chrysanthemum nodded their heads in the warm, gentle breeze. I scrolled and scrolled, reading the list of the names of the dead over and over again.

  There was no sign of Excellent_Ruthelss_Woods.

  But was one of these people Tommy?

  Somehow, I hadn’t noticed this string of kills before. Red had killed three people, and judging by the location in the Kill Feed, this had happened in the previous scenario.

  “Nearly died several times.” That was what he’d said.

  So who had attacked who first? Had another player tried to PK him, so he fought back in self-defence? Was it straight-up murder?

  A new thought occurred to me, an uncomfortable thought that my mind tried to shy away from.

  Had it been… Rohan… who had attacked Red first?

  It didn’t seem right. It couldn’t be. The Rohan I knew…

  But then, he hadn’t been the Rohan I knew, had he? The Rohan I knew was awkward and nerdy but he was my friend, the friend I knew through school, the friend I gamed with. But the Rohan who had walked away from me was someone else.

  And Poppy had been my friend too, hadn’t she? Look what happened there.

  I didn’t know what was real anymore.

  A sulphur-yellow butterfly landed on my leg, waving its wings languidly. I watched it until it flew away again. Then I opened Uriel’s Encyclopaedia.

  I threw the book. It soared away across the rice paddy, disappearing amongst the lush greenery with an audible splash. As soon as the book left my fingers, I was running after it, yelling “FUCK FUCK FUCK” as I went.

  The book was half-submerged in the murky water, but when I pulled it out, it was miraculously dry. I hugged it tightly, sinking into the water myself as I screamed aloud with frustration and fear. I was above water, but I felt like I was drowning.

  “God, help me. I can’t think of anything else to do right now. Please… Please… I need to know what Red did. Did he murder Rohan? Did he… Did he kill him? Please tell me…”

  The water had crept up my clothing to my waist. It was so cold, even on this warm spring day.

  Max Perception?

  For an hour?

  I staggered upright, wading frantically and ineffectually out of the rice paddy. Gaining the bank, I looked back to realise I had cut a trail of destruction through the crops in my mad scramble. How much work was that? How much revenue had I cost them?

  Without a second thought, I retrieved the coin purse from my inventory and left it on the bank. After all, Red had told me he had plenty of money. And until I knew whether or not I could trust him, there was no way I was using his charity.

  I stumbled wetly onto the road, tossing the Encyclopaedia back into my inventory.

  I was drenched, freezing, filthy, and I only had an hour to somehow get hold of Red and interrogate him.

  I ran.