The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

In the morning sunlight, I woke up first.

I felt utterly exhausted, but remembering the checkout time, I forced myself to get up. My limbs ached as I moved.

I gently lifted Akata’s arm off me and sat up, carefully disentangling my hair from his body.

“Akata.”

Even though I called softly, his eyelids fluttered open immediately.

“Get up and get dressed.”

“Mm, yes…”

I turned my back to Akata as he got dressed, preserving what little dignity I had left.

I didn’t want him to know that the person who woke up first and calmly told him to get dressed was actually reminiscing about last night with a hint of embarrassment.

We took a taxi back to the company. We both remained mostly silent.

But we didn’t let go of each other’s hands, feeling the lingering warmth through our clasped fingers.

“Can we go for a walk before we head back?”

Akata stopped in front of the company. There was a beautifully landscaped park nearby.

Surrounded by trees and devoid of people, Akata led me to a bench. With careful, traditional movements, he presented a ring to me.

“I’m sorry it took so long. I wanted to make it myself.”

The ring was special, appearing more like platinum than gold or diamond, created using Akata’s white phoenix ability.

Typically, materials from both worlds couldn’t be transferred, but Akata was an exception, capable of creating bugs just by existing.

He was the first to successfully maintain game materials in reality.

As I accepted the ring, I teased him,

“Is this why there was chaos at Mijon Company because of the discrepancies?”

“That’s why I worked overtime. Technically, I didn’t solve the discrepancies; I covered them up with something else.”

Akata smiled playfully, and that smile shut me up.

“That smile makes it impossible to scold you.”

The ring fit perfectly on my left ring finger. Seeing the matching ring on Akata’s left ring finger made me incredibly happy.

“Thank you. This is the best gift.”

I clasped his hands tightly with both of mine.

“My partner.”

Those words would surely be the greatest gift to Akata.

* * *

Ruins of a desolate research lab.

Once a testament to the characters being controlled by the system, this space now rightfully lay in ruins. Confirmed to be non-functional, the desolate site had been engulfed in silence for weeks, months, with no living beings stirring.

But suddenly, an anomaly occurred, one so unexpected that even the chief overseer of this world didn’t immediately notice.

Shattered glass containers vibrated, emitting a faint light, and a bewildered woman rose within one of them.

[Name]: Ria / [Level]: 1  

[Gender]: Female / [Age]: 28  

[Intelligence]: Superior

[Health]: 244 / C  

[Strength]: 210 / C  

[Agility]: 329 / C

As the woman, trying to decipher the meaning of the translucent text before her, read down to the last stat, she saw:

[Ability Group]: Soul  

[Unique Ability (Locked)]: ■■■  

[Grade]: A

Ria was alone. The system no longer broadcasted to pull newly born characters into the game.

Her black hair fell over her shoulders. Even with such natural physical sensations, Ria felt a sense of unfamiliarity and muttered to herself,

“Why was I born?”

As soon as she spoke, a notification popped up in the status window, filling more than half the screen.

[Congratulations! Unique Ability Unlocked!]

[Ability Group]: Soul  

[Unique Ability]: Psychometry  

[Grade]: A

The method to unlock Soul abilities was ‘to realize oneself, establish life’s convictions, and make a vow.’

Accidentally obtaining her unique ability, Ria realized it had become the sole guide for her ignorant self.

Understanding who she was became crucial. And fortunately, she had a psychic ability that seemed perfectly suited to help her.

She read the remnants of conversations left in the space.

“…This place isn’t of any use anymore, huh?”

“Right. There’s no point in keeping the place where our characters were created; it’s just unsettling.”

“Should we shut it down? I’ll call Jail.”

“Do you think of Jail as the demolition crew?”

“To make sure the system is destroyed, we have to physically destroy it as well,” said a woman named Rudel, speaking to another woman named Shemarin.

Ria carefully extracted more information from their conversation.

She picked up an old cloth from the ruins, fashioned it into some makeshift clothing, and left, hiding her body.

As she departed, the last remaining glass container crumbled to dust, as if it had held on just long enough for her.

* * *

I opened the blackout curtains and threw open the tightly sealed window. A cool breeze blew in.

Akata was still fast asleep. I got up and moved around first.

Every basic movement was painfully slow and cautious due to the soreness in my muscles.

‘Can I get through today and do my work properly despite this muscle pain?’

I had never found Akata so exasperating.

‘How can you sleep after that? Sleeping like an angel, are we?’

I pinched his white cheek. Disturbed, Akata turned his head to the side.

I laughed softly, tucking the blanket up to his neck. The window being open might make it a bit chilly for him.

The sound of chirping birds came from outside.

Initially, we had studied various ecosystems to create a realistic environment, but now, all the natural sounds had been replaced with artificial ones.

Yudirei’s inability to curb her murderous impulses meant she killed any small animal she saw, be it a bird or a squirrel, making it impossible to release wildlife into the area.

Just thinking about Yudirei now made me sigh.

I had developed a new compulsion to constantly check her location and activities.

‘In the game, she was just a petite killer, but trying to live normally, she seems like a monstrous demon…’

I never even finished the interview with her.

I even considered resurrecting the janitor who used to do only cleaning and maintenance to keep an eye on Yudirei.

Yes, it was all my burden. Adapting that child to society was also my mission.

Thinking of this, I decided to check her location. I tapped my stiff back and opened the status window.

“…The wall of our house?”

At that moment, the sunlight streaming into the room vanished.

Looking up, I saw a black silhouette behind the fluttering curtains.

Before I could react, Yudirei burst through the curtains and pounced on Akata like a wild beast.

‘Not me, but Akata?’

Her small hands couldn’t completely encircle his neck, but they were frighteningly strong.

Filled with rage, Yudirei straddled Akata’s chest, shaking him violently.

“You fraud!”

At least I confirmed she wasn’t carrying any weapons, so that was a relief, but…

“You played with me, didn’t you? Are you joking? Do it again! If you don’t come to the arena today, I’ll kill you.”

If she were a normal person, Yudirei would be a growing 16-year-old girl. Now that she had a human’s time, her features had become a bit more feminine, and she had unexpectedly grown a bit taller. However, her bloodthirsty nature hadn’t diminished at all.

Besides Yudirei, there were quite a few who missed the game. Therefore, we had preserved the old PK arena-like dueling ground as a playground where they could freely use and play with their unique abilities, under the supervision of referees like Akata and Ifrea.

Both Akata and I took turns keeping Yudirei’s murderous impulses in check by playing with her, and yesterday was Akata’s turn. It seemed he hadn’t entertained her enough, leaving her unsatisfied.

“Will you at least let me cut off one of your arms?”

“Uh, wait, that’s…”

Akata, abruptly awakened, was clearly caught off guard. Even if he had been struck by actual lightning, it might have been better than this. His eyes were wide open, and he was stammering.

I didn’t intervene. For some reason, I found myself smirking.

‘Normally, I would have thrown her out for climbing on top of my man without permission, but right now, this is quite amusing…’

A crazy killer who broke into the house could be thrown out the window by the scruff of the neck, but the reason Akata didn’t do this wasn’t due to any particular kindness. He was desperately clutching the edges of the blanket to prevent his naked skin from being exposed.

After teasing him enough, I shook my head and skillfully grabbed Yudirei by the nape from behind. Despite my aching body, I managed somehow.

Dangling, Yudirei noticed me. Her blood-red eyes deepened with excitement.

“…!”

Akata, although used to such scenes, was still greatly startled. 

She had drawn out a small sickle, no bigger than a trowel, which she had hidden in her clothes and pressed it against my neck. A small scratch formed, and droplets of blood trickled down.

The girl, leaning close and staring at the red liquid with an almost predatory gaze, whispered,

“…Is that enough for you?”

“Do you think that will satisfy me?”

“You know you shouldn’t be doing this. Just do what you’re supposed to today.”

“Damn it, I don’t want to.”

Yudirei’s assignment was to listen to classical music and work with clay, an activity meant to be good for a child’s emotions.