This...

After being startled for a moment, his lips curled up. If not for the role he was acting, he might've laughed already to his heart's content in joy.

He felt like he had never felt this happy before. Seeing the quest window appear before him, forget about the status window, this was enough to almost drive him into ecstasy.

A quest window only meant one thing for him, that is the confirmation that he was really transported in a game like world. He even had the thought of kowtowing now to thank the gods for bringing him into this world.

Not only that, he even felt thankful the he killed himself. If he knew this would have happened, he would have killed himself a long time ago.

This is it, maybe this time I can finally feel what living actually is and stop hating myself. I will finally have the will to live!

But his happiness was short-lived, not only they didn't have the time to discuss about the quest window that appeared out of nowhere, they were suddenly surrounded by danger.

He quickly scanned the vicinity and found numerous hounds with bloody red eyes and black furs encircling them.

As he focused on one of them, he was shocked by what he found.

[Information bank]

[Hound Level. 0]

Weakness: Afraid of fire

Characteristics: Hunts in group

Skill: Evolve by devouring intelligent species.

Attributes: Agile, moderately strong.

[Warning! Strength insufficient!]

'Information bank?'

Forget it, now is not the time to think about that.

After spotting a narrow gap in the encirclement of the hounds, he immediately pointed at it.

"Run there!"

He immediately directed the group in the gap while positioning himself at rear, but then noticed that the group was in disarray.

Damn, I completely forgot about the importance of formation in a party. How could I have forgotten about something so important! Pretending to be a protagonist is harder than I thought.

As they ran frantically, he found Rheena gasping for breath a certain distance away from his back. When he picked up the worn out vest earlier, he left Rheena studying a piece of flower.

As she was starting to be left behind by the party, one of the swarming hounds behind them suddenly pounced at her.

When his eyes met Rheena, he paused for a moment from fear when he caught a glimpse of the hundreds of hounds behind her.

"It's fine Oppa, please escape. I'll slow them down, Oppa, promise me you wouldn't be sad again."

The world slowed down, as everything before Jeemin's eyes went into slow motion, his despairing eyes were reflected by Rheena's warm gazed.

Rheena smiled at him as her cheeks puffed up and her dimples caved in, completely devoid of any panic as if saving him gave her a sense of purpose. Jeemin urged his feet to go faster, as hounds practically started on ripping her clothes.

His emotion which he repressed all the time after being transferred in this world completely blew up.

"NOOOOOO!!"

He was enraged. Truly angered at himself.

As her torn clothes flew into the air....

"Noo! Aaaaahhh!!"

Just why did he paused for a moment? Just why was he afraid?

'Please no.'

The hatred within himself grew.

The resentment in his heart and mind combined as pure rage took over him.

His heart pounding fiercely.

Slow, slow, slow, why am I so slow?!

Please, faster. He urged his body to move faster.

He slammed his foot on the ground, hoping... hoping to reach her as fast as he can.

No.

Her smile, as her hand stretched towards him...

What felt like that he was the one saving her, were turned completely upside down. Her soft pale hand, reaching towards him, looked like a hand coming from above the heavens, helping him to stand up.

Telling him to live on...

He saw... He saw her mouth forming the words, "It's okay."

Rage and panic has overridden his mind, with bloodshot eyes he launched his body towards her.

Faster, please, faster! Did I just hesitate?! Why am I like this?

Ignoring the hounds clawing, biting, munching on his flesh. He finally reached her. Lying on the ground, was a blurry figure, smiling at him.

His moist eyes, the tears that were erupting to flow, made the world around him hazier. 

Hazy, unclear, and damp. Maybe it was the rain, or maybe it was his tears flowing from his eyes.

He can't understand what he was feeling, but one thing is for sure, he must save her. As the world before him stood still, his heart tightened at the injuries she suffered.

He immediately bent down and lifted her up.

He heard a soft voice whispering in his ears behind him, as he carried her on his back. 

"I told you to leave me behind, right? Oppa, you'll get hurt."

Her breathing was rough as she spoke. He didn't reply but ran towards the direction of the rest of the group.

The emotions piling up in his heart made him hate the party he created. Why didn't they rescue her? Why did they left her behind?

Why did I left her behind?

At the end, he could only blame himself.

*

Claire Williams went back as soon as she saw Liu Jeemin heading back further in the rear to rescue Rheena.

"Captain has fallen back in the rear! Let's help him."

Claire Williams shouted at the scattered group while kicking some hounds around her. Picking up a relatively huge rock, she smashed a hound's head like a watermelon.

"Isn't that suicidal?" Sasaki Seiji replied.

"So what, you're just gonna run away?"

After Claire Williams bashed a hound's head, perhaps the rest of party gained some confidence since they went back towards Liu Jeemin location. 

"Where is the captain?"

Dmitri asked with cold and slightly panicked face. He sliced off a hound's neck although the damage dealt was small, the hound whimpered in pain.

"Over there."

"Where? All I can see here is bunch of trees. Don't you think it's really, really, suicidal to go back?"

"Then wait here!"

"No way!"

Sasaki Seiji thought his survival chance would go up if he stayed with these people capable of holding off the hounds, so instead of staying in one place, he might as well stick with them.

Li Jing and Jin Hyoon was together as they heard about saving their captain from Claire Williams.

"Look, he's running towards us."

They quickly noticed an indiscernable tiny dot growing more discernable. What they saw was a bloody figure running towards them carrying a dangling body behind his back.

"Go and clear the way for him, Li Jing and I discovered a narrow cave entrance near here, we'll lead the way."

Jin Hyoon suggested as she split off a tree's branch near her.

She swung the branch as hard as she could to drive off the hounds pouncing at them while Li Jing was hiding beside her, trembling in fear.

Dmitri followed the suggestion without hesitation. He nimbly avoided a hound trying to bite his arm and ran towards Liu Jeemin.

The rest of the group tried their best to clear the way for Liu Jeemin.

*

He soon found the group waiting for him amidst the forest, the only thing he remembered was running forward and the pain all over his body.

"Captain behind you!"

A huge hound with strange human like clear eyes suddenly jumped behind him.

Afraid that Rheena might be the hound's target, he twisted his body in counter-clockwise motion.

A bloodcurdling scream ensued as a torn piece of limb was seen dangling in the hound's mouth.

As the torn arm protruded in the mouth of the menacing oversized hound, its eyes, devoid of any red-hue unlike any of the normal hounds, look at them with a hint of intelligent excitement in its eyes.

Sasaki Seiji held his mouth with a horrified expression as he saw Liu Jeemin running for his life while missing an arm off. The dangling body behind him almost made him pee between his pants.

*

As Jeemin ran, he felt his left shoulder was screaming in pain. An unimaginable pain the he'd never felt before. He thought physical pain was a little bit better than mental problems, but soon found out how grossly he underestimated physical pain.

He imagined that he was able to evade the hound's attack, but thought it was still able to scratch him. 

The problem was, aside from the pain, his left shoulder felt strangely light, like something was missing. But he didn't have the time to mind it as he was trying his best to keep on running, even  though his lungs had already went cold.

His feet, aching from the nonstop running, was finally able to reunite him with the group. 

"Let's go and follow them, they've found a narrow cave entrance near here."

As Claire Williams muttered in panic at Liu Jeemin's bloody figure, she pointed at Jin Hyoon a certain distance away from them. 

He just ran, and ran, his head slowly getting heavier. His body which didn't experience running for a long time was being pushed to its limits.

The only consolation he found was that he finally saw the narrow cave entrance Claire Williams had told him earlier.

Claire Williams warded off the hounds from behind with Dmitri, as Jin Hyoon, Sasaki Seiji, and Li Jing collected rocks near the cave's entrance.

When Liu Jeemin reached the entrance, Li Jing supported him as he entered the spacious cave.

Dmitri buried a knife inside a hound's head as he shouted, "Is it done? How much time do you need?"

"Wait, it's not enough!" Jin Hyoon shouted as she frantically threw several rocks inside the cave.

"I'm having a hard time here!"

"Go help them! I'll hold them off." Claire Williams shouted, while swinging a branch's tree to ward off the hounds attacking her.

Dmitri ran without hesitation and joined Jin Hyoon and the bunch to threw several rocks towards the cave entrance.

After going inside, Sasaki Seiji shouted from inside,  "There are enough rocks here. I'll start piling them up."

"Claire, go inside."

"Let's head inside, c'mon faster."

They reorganized the piled up rock inside the cave to block the entrance.

While Jin Hyoon and Claire Williams pushed a relatively medium sized boulder inside the cave towards the entrance. 

The strange hound earlier that attacked Liu Jeemin let out an evil cackle as it went near the cave.

It's strange human like eyes gleamed with greed, as it tongue hang from its mouth.

Seeing this, the party blocked the entrance with panic and grave expressions, as they rushed to pile more rocks at the entrance.

As soon as they were about to finish blocking the narrow entrance, they heard the strange hound growl that doesn't sound like a growl at all. It was like...

"Fo..od."

...trying to speak.

They stood rooted, shocked and horrified when they heard the strange hound spoke.

"It.. it. It spoke!"

Sasaki Seiji ruffled his hair in fluster.

While Claire and Hyoon widened their eyes when the hound spoke.

"Impossible!"

"I've lived in wilderness for quite some time, I've never heard carnivorous animals talk!"

"We're in a different world after all." Dmitri spoke coldly as he arranged the piled up rocks blocking the entrance.

Only then they heaved a sigh of relief when they didn't hear any footsteps outside the cave nor hounds attempting to go inside.

When they relaxed, Li Jing soft shout startled them.

Like forgetting something important, Claire Williams abruptly turned her head towards Jeemin's bloody figure.

"Ahh!"

Seiji covered his eyes as soon as he caught a glimpse of Jeemin's bleeding left shoulder. When he recalled the dangling torn limb on the hound's mouth earlier, he couldn't help but vomit.

When Dmitri saw him puked, he snorted and scoffed.

"What a wimp."

"What did you say?!"

"I said you're a wimp. I'm younger than you by, I'm not sure, 10 years? Do you see me puking? Do you see me telling people around me to leave the captain?"

"What? You dare!"

"So what did you mean when you said, 'it's suicidal to go back?' Isn't that same thing as saying leaving behind captain? Wimp."

Dmitri spat on the ground with a disgusted expression as he glared at Seiji.

"Next time, remember, when you are presented with another situation like this, always go for the kill. Act, not run." Dmitri glanced at his own left hand as he curtly turned his back towards Seiji.

"You—"

"Enough!"

Jin Hyoon bellowed as she angrily added, "Stop fighting. Let's check captain's condition first."

When Jin Hyoon darted towards Liu Jeemin, Li Jing suddenly shouted in panic.

"Captain!"