episode_0029

That evening.

Rhea and Lager headed to the command center to prepare for night duty.

Strangely, out of the six duty teams, we were the only mixed-gender team.

The members of the other five teams either glanced at us with curiosity or openly whistled at us.

“Off to the night shift.”

“Oh, the night shift, huh?”

“So, this is the infamous night shift I’ve heard about.”

“Staying up all night patrolling… oh boy.”

…I could clearly see the exchanged glances filled with such conversations.

“If I had known, I would have just refused to do it.”

I grumbled to Lager in a voice that was almost audible.

While I was already receiving plenty of mischievous glances, Lager remained unfazed.

“So what? It’s not like we’re actually doing it.”

“Do you know how tiring baseless rumors can be?”

“Baseless rumors tend to die down quickly.”

“Even if others don’t know, you shouldn’t talk like that.”

It was quite perplexing and irritating to hear such words from the one who had caused the spread of the rumors. I vowed to kick him in the shins when we took the subway later.

Night duty was no different from the weekend. Patrol the designated area and report any unusual incidents. That was it.

And so, we headed out of the academy gate for our duty assignment.

As we entered the subway station, a breathless chase ensued between Lager, who was trying to avoid extreme discomfort, and me, who was determined to kick him in the shins.

A few moments later.

“Heh, heh….”

Gasping for breath as we ran on the subway, I shot a glance at Lager sitting across from me.

I had to suppress my rising anger as I couldn’t cause a scene on the subway.

“Give up.”

Lager casually crossed his legs and surrendered.

Perhaps his body as a girl had significantly decreased his athletic abilities. I couldn’t possibly catch up to Lager as he ran with all his might.

Given that I was a magic user and he was a physical fighter, the gap in our physical abilities would only widen as time passed.

Of course, considering that Lager’s missions often involved protecting me, it was ideal for him to become stronger.

But thinking about him gradually becoming weaker and slower, transitioning from a childhood friend to someone who needed protection, was not exactly pleasant.

I needed to be strong.

To prevent others from hindering me.

As I watched the diminishing number of passengers as we neared Pahilo, I suddenly realized why night shifts started at 11 p.m. despite the summons being at 8 p.m.

It was because it took two and a half hours to get to the duty location.

“Wouldn’t it be more economical to just use a portal?”

Lager answered my question as he sat down next to me.

“Portals are only used in emergencies. It consumes a considerable amount of mana to connect spaces.”

“Why not set it up differently then?”

I complained to the author who had created this inconvenient setting.

“True. I’ll do that next time.”

He brushed it off as if it were someone else’s problem. Seeing him talk about the ‘next time’ made me wonder if he was planning another novel.

“Oh, right.”

As he took out his tablet to draw, a sudden curiosity arose in me.

“What will you do first when you go back?”

Seeing him occasionally plan a novel made me think he might be considering escaping from this world.

“Well, I don’t know.” After pondering for a while, Lager asked me the same question.

“What do you want to do?”

I didn’t even have to think about it.

“Let’s have some pork belly and a glass of soju, then just laze around at home.”

Lying in bed after filling my stomach with greasy food and feeling a bit tipsy. Isn’t that the life?

Rager chuckled at my response.

“I’m going to apologize to my parents.”

He brought up a sentimental topic out of nowhere.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“Just, everything. All of it.”

With a somewhat melancholic look in his eyes, he uttered those words, making me feel a bit emotional for no reason.

As far as I knew, Rager never had any major conflicts with his parents. Even during our teenage years, we were close neighbors, so if there had been any big issues with his parents, it would have caused quite a commotion, and I would have definitely known about it.

Unless it was something from his previous world.

Did something happen that he needs to apologize for after coming here?

‘…What a drama.’

I decided to stop making baseless speculations. Looking back, I realized that all my reasoning was just guesswork.

There might be something I don’t know about. Although I felt a bit uneasy, I decided not to dwell on it any longer.

[This is Pahilo Station, Pahilo Station. Please mind the closing doors…]

The subway had already arrived at the terminal station, and an announcement was made for all passengers to disembark.

Even though it was the second coming of Pahilo Station, it felt desolate to the point of being unsettling. With no streetlights around, stepping just a bit away from the station plunged you into pitch-black darkness.

The lights on the guardrails, standing tall sporadically, were all facing outward. It was probably installed to detect monsters approaching from outside, so it made sense.

In other words, inside the guardrails was a completely dark and unknown world.

“But are there really no people living here at all?”

As I looked around the desolate station, a question naturally arose.

“No, people do live here, but they don’t live near here. It’s too dangerous around the guardrails.”

Rager glanced around and casually slipped his hand into his pocket. The night air was already chilly enough to release a faint breath.

While waiting and smoking a cigarette, the previous shift workers arrived. It seemed like the meeting point for the shift change was in front of the station.

Not knowing the ranks and ages of the shift workers, I quickly put out my cigarette, and Rager subtly nodded his head towards the front.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“What hard work? We’re all just doing our job.”

The man who received Rager’s greeting had a gray stripe around his neck.

Tier Gray.

A person stronger than Dakota.

The man next to him also had a red stripe around his neck. Were only strong survivors assigned to night guard duty?

The man with the red stripe alternately looked at us and chuckled.

“Where are you guys from, getting all flustered over lower-tier people?”

“Oh, well…”

Rager, who was about to retort, glanced at me, perhaps due to the earlier incident, and lowered his head.

“It’s not like that. It’s just that the schedule turned out this way by chance.”

“It’s just a schedule, you can easily change it by poking a little higher up.”

Chuckling as if he knew everything, the man with the red stripe patted Rager’s shoulder and walked past us. The man with the gray stripe also chuckled to himself, put his hand in his pocket, and followed him, poking him along the way.

“Well then, enjoy your night.”

“Have a fierce game in the darkness!”

“One game turns into two, then three, and before you know it, it’s four!”

Those guys are quite rowdy. While I bit my tongue and stayed silent, Rager was once again busy glancing at me.

“…Was that okay this time?”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Tier-wise, I’m way up there, but it’s not like I can handle all the pressure.

Facing this situation, I couldn’t help but wonder if Lager was feeling too tense to crack a joke in the beginning.

A lower-tiered soldier volunteering for the night patrol usually reserved for higher-tiered soldiers. Lager must have felt awkward seeing them teasing the patrol group, leaving him with no choice but to awkwardly chuckle.

It might have been quite embarrassing for him.

“Hey.”

So, I took the lead and casually said, hands in my pockets.

“Thanks.”

“What for?”

“Just thanks. Don’t ask why.”

As I walked away quickly, my breath came out thicker.

“Hey, come with me.” Lager hurriedly caught up, but I had no intention of slowing down to match his pace.

Even though we were only a short distance from the station, darkness quickly enveloped us. The lantern Lager carried seemed incredibly bright, as there was no other light to rely on in the surroundings.

Perhaps it was the perfect place to do something mischievous.

Well, depending on the circumstances, calling it mischief might be a bit ambiguous…

Just as my thoughts were drifting in a mischievous direction,

Suddenly, the tail behind us twitched and moved.