[124]
Chris felt his face burning up.
Even without pretending, embarrassment washed over him.
Lowering his head, he barely moved his lips.
“…Thank you.”
As he opened the door and stepped outside, his strength drained away. The exhaustion that came as a reaction to his intense tension was considerable.
He closed his eyes for a moment, covering his mouth while leaning against the wall.
Knowing why Yuri had gone to such lengths, it was hard to blame him.
Last night, Chris had literally become a wolf and laid in the same bed with Yuri.
He somewhat regretted what he’d done.
If he hadn’t been in beast form, could he have maintained self-control until morning?
Even Chris found it difficult to be certain.
In his sleep, Yuri’s hand burrowing into his fur carried a sense of desperation.
Thanks to this, Chris concluded that his choice to stay by Yuri’s side had been correct.
If he had to abandon Yuri because of the mission, he wouldn’t have been at ease.
Even if things went wrong, he was confident he could safely extract Yuri at least. But that would be all.
‘More than I thought… I’m quite willful.’
Reflecting on his actions, Chris swallowed a bitter smile.
It wasn’t just more than he thought—he was definitely willful.
And Yuri was lenient toward such a Chris.
Now that he had stepped away from the environment that always surrounded him, he could see these things clearly.
Like how you only realize you’re out of breath after climbing up a slope.
Chris headed to the players’ lounge.
According to information Yuri got from the broker, Obl was supposed to be at the lounge around this time.
Sure enough, Obl was visible leaning against a fake window.
‘Since he’s related by blood to Abigail Chung… is he Obl Chung?’
Or perhaps, like Chris, Obl had created a player-specific pseudonym.
When Chris approached without hesitation, Obl, who had been ignoring him at first, turned his head to see who it was. Then, seeing Chris standing there, he frowned sharply.
“What a pleasant face to see.”
It was sarcasm. But Chris sat down across from him.
Not wanting to get up from his seat, Obl clicked his tongue.
“I’m glad to hear I’m pleasant.”
Chris shrugged.
“Why do you keep clinging to me?”
Obl complained.
“To avoid someone tiresome.”
This wasn’t just an excuse.
The Esper Chris met at the last “gathering” had been approaching him frequently.
Offering drugs, promising to introduce nice people—all sorts of suspicious proposals.
“And I also have something to ask.”
“Something to ask?”
Obl narrowed his brows.
Wolf was taciturn and hardly had any close relationships with other players. Why would such a person be following him around with questions?
‘No, that might be precisely why.’
Having no close acquaintances, he’s coming to someone who discovered his weakness to demand information.
“…I’ve got a stalker.”
Chris started.
“They interfere before matches and strange objects get delivered to my room.”
“Ah. You’re being targeted too, I see.”
“Yes. But using sleeping gas in my bedroom… it’s rather tiresome. Is there a solution?”
“How would I know?”
“You’re my senior, so you must have experienced it before me.”
Obl quietly affirmed.
“There have been some annoying incidents.”
“They somehow access even the players’ waiting room.”
Obl chuckled at that innocent grumbling.
“It could be another player doing it.”
“…Why?”
Chris reflexively asked in response to that quiet whisper.
“Because they find it hard to win. They pretend to be malicious fans to mess with their opponent’s mental state. Even if they’re not facing you today… they just want to see you fall, even once.”
“That’s cowardly.”
“Even if it’s cowardly, well, as long as they achieve their goal, that’s all that matters.”
Obl shrugged.
‘Besides, if there’s absolutely no opening except for such underhanded methods… it’s human nature to want to try something.’
Having lost in the rookie tournament, Obl dreamed of revenge.
He had been grinding his teeth, vowing to get revenge if that damn rookie made it to the main competition, and analyzing Wolf’s matches one by one. But he clicked his tongue.
He realized his goal was more difficult than expected.
The newly appeared wolf was troublesome in many ways to players who had mainly faced humans.
First of all, having to lower one’s body to attack was a big problem. Once Wolf bit your leg, it was over. Even trying to steal a weapon, it was nearly impossible to pull out the opponent’s teeth during combat.
At least his silvery, shining fur made him easy to spot.
But the real problem lay elsewhere: the machines scattered throughout the arena. There were quite a few players complaining that they attacked what they thought was Wolf, only to damage machinery and end up paying repair costs.
‘Unless I turn invisible and set animal traps… No, he’d avoid those too.’
Perhaps because he was a wolf, his sense of smell was excellent.
Having noticed that Wolf had never been caught in fire-related traps during matches, Obl observed carefully and discovered that Wolf could smell oil and avoided those areas.
His few defeats mostly occurred when facing opponents capable of long-range attacks.
‘And… it seems he tries to avoid taking fatal wounds.’
That was unexpected given his aggressive nature. It seemed difficult to reconcile the predator who waits for the most precarious moment before pouncing with such caution.
“So is there a solution?”
Just by looking, it was clear that Abigail hadn’t just been coming around for a day or two.
If there was a problem in the waiting room, Obl, who was trying to protect his sister while pretending not to, would have prevented her from coming to the Colosseum altogether.
Sure enough, Obl began to speak.
“…The solution is fairly simple.”
“What is it?”
Chris leaned forward. Obl hesitated before answering.
“Slip some money to the facility manager.”
“…Ah.”
“Money can get you anything. But if your opponent slips them more money… it starts all over again.”
Chris brushed his hair back irritably.
“They’re really something.”
It was frustration at the Colosseum’s distorted ecosystem.
“There’s nothing money can’t solve.”
Not recognizing this, Obl responded cynically. That’s just how life had been for him. There was nothing money couldn’t fix.
If only he had that money.
“Is there no other way?”
“Why look elsewhere when the easiest path is right there?”
Chris paused briefly before saying:
“I’m asking because I can’t use that option.”
It was problematic given his cover.
“As a platinum player, you should earn quite a bit… Oh.”
Obl clicked his tongue. He suddenly remembered that Wolf was in a similar situation to himself.
While Obl’s leash was held by the arena, Wolf had said his Guide was in the hands of loan sharks.
‘Perhaps my situation is better.’
At least he didn’t have to worry about Abigail because of the arena. This debt was solely imposed on him.
“Or, well.”
Obl hesitated briefly before speaking.
“How about losing more often?”
“That would just add to my debt, wouldn’t it?”
“Honestly, I’ve never been targeted at your level. Sleeping gas… In my case, it was just cute cursed letters.”
Chris felt somewhat wronged.
Obl seemed to have been in the arena longer than him, yet he only experienced that much.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Can’t be helped. While you weren’t invincible, you did achieve Platinum in record time. Everyone’s on edge thinking a Champion might emerge.”
“Champion? There’s something above Platinum?”
Obl slowly nodded.
“The Champion of the arena. They say one emerged a few years ago, but none since. All the players here want to become that Champion. Especially those at the top.”
“What’s so great about being the champion of an illegal fighting arena that nobody knows about?”
When Chris deliberately made this provocative comment, Obl flared up.
“The Champion gets to make one wish.”
“What’s so special about this Colosseum that it can grant wishes…”
Chris began to move his lips but then stopped.
The scale of this arena was larger than he had thought.
While there were dog fighting rings in the Winter Continent, nothing like this arena existed with enough personnel for tournaments. Moreover, most participating players were unregistered Espers.
‘If one chooses their wish carefully…’
It might become a channel to reach the Thorns Order.
“Tell me more. How does one become Champion?”
“Participate in the losers’ bracket competition.”
Obl added, “I mean the final match.”
“Then the path to becoming Champion opens.”
Going around in circles, it comes back to the losers’ bracket.
“What’s so special about that match… hiding all the information, it’s a mandatory condition to become Champion?”
Chris tilted his head in confusion.
“What if no one participates?”
“Someone would have approached you and suggested it.”
At those words, Chris recalled the man who approached him at the gathering.
It seems if curiosity doesn’t lead one to participate, they resort to making such proposals.
He looked at Obl with gleaming eyes, wondering if he should probe further.
Feeling as if being stared down by a beast, Obl waved his hands.
“I can’t say more than that. There’s a taboo in place.”
At the mention of a taboo, Chris’s eyes lit up.
How many beings could place such prohibitions on Espers?
‘Is a mental Esper from the Thorns Order involved?’
This meant that if he really became the ‘Champion,’ he could get closer to the upper echelons.
“…I’ll have to consider it.”
Chris muttered.
“Oh, and about those pretending to be fans.”
Obl hesitated before speaking.
“You could also solve it by finding the facility manager’s weakness or getting on their good side.”
Swallowing a sigh, he tore off a piece of memo paper, scribbled something on it, and handed it to Chris.
“I heard the manager visits this place regularly. There might be something suspicious going on, so check it out once. If things go well, you might at least be able to sleep peacefully.”
Chris stared at him intently.
“What are you looking at? I didn’t have money to spare for that either, so I had to find another way.”
He snatched the note from Obl’s hand as the latter was about to take it back with a “take it or leave it” attitude.
“…I’ll make good use of this.”
Yuri’s sound sleep was important.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
