[116]
Chris recalled the screen on the terminal issued to players.
There was one final match with no explanation, just the option to apply.
The man was clearly referring to that match.
“I’m not… interested,” Chris said.
“Why not?” the other asked, as if unable to understand.
“You said your goal was to pay off your debt. The prize money for that match would be the best, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not going to throw myself into what might be lava or a glacier just to receive money.”
Chris replied calmly.
“My first goal is indeed to pay off my debt, but my second goal is to leave here alive.”
The man hesitated.
The face of the person saying they wanted to leave alive was incredibly gentle.
As if thinking about someone waiting for them beyond all this.
‘Disgusting.’
If he had someone waiting for him too, would he have been able to endure crawling into a place like this?
No, that’s not it.
There’s no guarantee emotions last forever. That Esper was definitely being used by his Guide.
“Hey! Hand over all the money.”
The man spat at Chris’s feet and snickered.
“Damn. I can’t believe I got fleeced like this.”
“What made you think that guy wouldn’t participate in matches to the end?”
The player waved his hand at his grumbling companion.
“Thanks. Thank you. Keep acting stupid.”
His laughter was noticeably exaggerated.
Turning to Chris, he winked one eye.
“Thaaanks. I bet my entire fortune that you were a coward.”
Even while saying this, the man deliberately tensed his body.
He expected the other to pick a fight out of displeasure. Surprisingly, Chris remained calm.
He simply gazed with unusually clear blue eyes, rare in a place like this.
That gaze didn’t stimulate any guilt.
But the reason that had been numbed by drugs rang a small alarm bell.
‘People who are genuinely scared don’t act like that.’
It wasn’t due to great insight. The man who knew this well from past experience felt uneasy.
He nervously scratched the back of his head.
The ‘owner’ had told him to use any means to get him to participate in the final match.
He thought guys were all similar, so he’d fall for being provoked as a coward.
But just looking at his face, it was clear he wasn’t provoked or stimulated at all.
“If you’ve got guts.”
The man stepped toward Chris and poked his chest.
“Become your own master.”
The very person saying this was visibly intoxicated by drugs.
Eyes unnaturally curved despite nothing being funny, and gaze occasionally losing focus. Well-dressed but suddenly scratching his body.
A face completely unaware that his shoulders were unstably twitching.
‘Even if it wasn’t for all those signs.’
Every time the other spoke, an unpleasantly heavy scent mixed with his breath.
A smell Chris had unwillingly become familiar with.
“…Hmm.”
As the other’s suggestions continued, even Chris began to feel something was off.
There seemed to be plenty of people to pick fights with, so it was strange that he focused only on Chris.
‘Does he have another purpose?’
For instance… dragging Chris into that match.
“It’s not that I lack courage… I’m just cautious,” Chris said.
After all, provocation wasn’t something only the other side could do.
“Just because someone waves a red cloth, does that make a human charge like a bull?”
The detachment in his calm tone had an irritating quality.
The player’s shoulders twitched at the feeling of being dismissed.
“Is that so? Then does that mean you’d try it if you had proper information?”
“Well…”
Chris trailed off without immediately agreeing.
He was imitating Yuri’s style.
‘I’ve only glimpsed it over his shoulder, so I’m not sure if I’m doing it right.’
Still, the other seemed shaken.
After a long silence, the man emptied his glass vigorously and spoke.
“It’s a kind of… hmm. Let’s call it a wild card match.”
This was another unexpected statement.
“Wild card match?”
“It opens a new path for people who have lost the opportunity to live despite having many days left.”
“I don’t… believe that.”
Chris trailed off.
“If it were such a normal match, I think there would have been a proper explanation.”
This was the Colosseum that pushed people into rookie ‘hunting’ without explanation.
In such a place, it was obvious how dangerous this match with not even a brief explanation would be.
“Try it once. You can get victory and prize money for free. Depending on how you perform, you’ll gain more fans too.”
While saying “fans,” he made a circular shape with his fingers.
It seemed he meant money sources rather than actual fans.
“If it’s such a good match, why are you recommending it to me?” Chris asked instead.
If there was a clear theme of a wild card match, it would probably be difficult to hold frequently.
After all, wouldn’t they need to find opponents to put on that field besides the players?
“Wolf. I quite like you.”
The player who roughly loosened his tie as if it bothered him added with a gaping smile.
He looked simple, as if he’d forgotten the hostility he had openly displayed just moments ago.
But those eyes gleamed cunningly in the banquet hall lights.
“That’s why I’m telling you.”
Chris blinked.
How could he believe someone who said they liked him when they clearly didn’t have good feelings toward him?
Who would trust someone who threw a tantrum and then immediately changed their face to smile?
‘If he really liked me, he wouldn’t have gotten my name wrong in the first place.’
But he had definitely accomplished one thing:
Stimulating Chris’s curiosity.
‘Let me report to Yuri first.’
Perhaps he might have learned something about this final match as well.
“Still, as it’s advice from a senior, I’ll engrave it in my heart and consider it carefully.”
“Good. Smart thinking.”
The man revealed his yellowed teeth in a broad smile.
***
“You look terrible.”
When the lights came on, Chris raised his head groggily.
Yuri was standing at the doorway.
After closing the door behind him, Yuri, still in his tailcoat with only his tie loosened, looked down at Chris lying on the sofa.
‘Knowing his personality, he wouldn’t have touched alcohol.’
This wasn’t mere speculation but certainty.
Chris knew his own strength well and was wary of losing control of himself.
It was natural, since if he caused an accident, Yuri would be the first to get hurt.
Chris, who had been pressing his reddened eyes at Yuri’s appearance, spoke.
“I went to the banquet hall… I think it’s because of the drugs they used there.”
“Really?”
Yuri slowly leaned over the sofa and lifted Chris’s chin.
“I hope my ‘merchandise’ hasn’t been damaged by some drug.”
“I didn’t, didn’t take any.”
Chris tried to push Yuri’s hand away but staggered.
He could feel the guiding seeping in. It was refreshing, like pressing cold ice against his face.
Perhaps Yuri’s body temperature felt that way because of the guiding.
“I was careful about everything that went into my mouth…”
Chris mumbled.
The sensation of his body not moving as he wanted felt strange.
His heart was pounding, and his mind was jumbled with all sorts of thoughts.
‘No, it’s familiar.’
He always felt this confused when embraced by Yuri.
But usually an overwhelming pleasure would rush in, making it impossible to focus on this confusion. Along with the relief of not being abandoned and the satisfaction that could only be obtained from Yuri.
“If you didn’t eat or drink anything, did they spray it in the air?”
Yuri frowned.
He had expected drugs at a gathering of Colosseum players.
‘But to disperse it in gaseous form for inhalation…’
Drugs don’t usually affect Espers of Chris’s level well. Even a sedative strong enough to put an elephant to sleep would only make him drowsy for a moment.
Yet for a drug to affect Chris to this extent…
Half the Espers in that room would have had to crawl back.
If they actually sprayed such a concentrated drug, the expense would have been greater than sprinkling an equal weight of gold on the ground.
No matter how much money the Colosseum makes, they wouldn’t allocate such a large budget for just one party.
Ultimately, Yuri’s reasoning reached one conclusion.
‘Even for Espers, is the threshold for guiding drugs low?’
Though still just a hypothesis, it wasn’t pleasant.
He had let Chris go out alone assuming he could at least take care of himself.
“Get a hold of yourself, Chris.”
Yuri said, pressing Chris’s earlobe firmly.
But Chris leaned his head against Yuri’s hand with a flushed face.
If he really had a tail, it would have been wagging excitedly.
‘Is it fortunate that he lost his mind in human form?’
Yuri lifted his body.
Unless he clung properly, the weight was considerable as limbs that the owner couldn’t manage properly hung limply.
Yuri clicked his tongue as he kept adjusting Chris’s slipping body and then slung him over his shoulder.
Though he’d prefer to carry him like a princess, they couldn’t appear intimate to cameras that might be anywhere.
‘Does the leadership here have some voyeuristic tendencies?’
Irritated for no reason, Yuri threw Chris onto the bed.
He removed his jacket and loosened his tie that might choke him if he tossed and turned during the night.
‘The shoes should be fine, right?’
Without much hesitation, Yuri removed his shoes. It would be troublesome if the bed got dirty.
He then removed his socks for the same reason.
Next was the belt.
Making various excuses while arranging Chris’s bed, Yuri looked down at his hands.
He saw the warm towel he had brought to place on Chris’s eyes. There, Chris was already lying down, half in pajamas.
Yuri collapsed into a chair beside the bed, swallowed a sigh, and cradled his head.
‘I shouldn’t have just restrained Chris from showing his feelings.’
Now he realized he was the main problem.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
