dream narrative = dream narrative
dream speech = "dream speech"
dream thoughts = 'dream thoughts'

***

"Ahhhhh!" A woman's terrified shriek echoed throughout the desolate red desert.

The three surprised men behind her turned their heads reflexively with confused expressions.

"What..."

Flinch---

Their eyes bulged out as they froze in shock at the monstrous sight. A giant red golem's shadow loomed over them as its large feet came closer.

"Ahhh!!"

The woman cowardly ran away in terror with tears in her eyes, leaving the three frozen men behind.

"...Fuck! Run!" The leader shouted out, snapping the other two men back to reality.

Knowing they were absolutely not near the golem's level, the three men ran for their lives as if a serial killer was chasing them, except this time, it was worse than that.

"Damnit! We can't escape it like this!" 

The golem could easily catch up to them, and they would soon run out of stamina. Thus, they needed someone to distract it to buy time... Someone...who doesn't have much value to the team.

The leader of the team abruptly stopped.

"...Trey? What are you doing?! Run!" I shouted at the man in front of me, who was wearing a strange grin.

'What is he...?'

Before I could finish my thought, Trey pushed me to the ground with full force, leaving me to die in the bloody dust.

"Tr....." I was left speechless by his action. I knew what he was trying to do, but I don't understand why he did it.

"Ha...Haha...."

His odd grin grew bigger as he said the last words I heard from him, 

"We don't need you anymore. So it's fine, right?"

"...What?" My expression instantly sank.

My heart thumped faster as I watched him run away with a grin. Slowly, a familiar giant shadow loomed upon me. 

'No...'

I shakily turned to the giant golem standing behind me with no expression on its face.

"...No... Please...."  

I begged quietly, but no one heard my desperate whispers.

The fear in my heart grew bigger as it reached its hand out to my chest.

'No... Please...! Someone... Save me!!!'

I closed my eyes tightly and prayed for a miracle to happen, only to feel excruciating pain a second later.

"Aghhh!!!" I screamed in pain as the blood from my chest gushed out. It felt like my whole body was burning like a high fever.

'.....'

'I... I don't wanna die....'

Tears rolled down my face as I opened my mouth filled with blood, only to close it again. As the excruciating pain continued, all I could do was watch the golem grin at my suffering. Just like he did. I couldn't tell whether it was real or just a hallucination. 

***

"....."

I awoke in a cold sweat. 

My body gently lifted itself up as I rubbed off the large amount of cold sweat forming on my forehead with a calm expression.

'I don't feel awake yet...' I quietly yawned as I reached my hand out to the curtains, only to touch air instead.

"Hm?" I turned my head in confusion, meeting gazes with a dirty wooden wall.

"...."

'...Right. I'm not in my apartment anymore.' 

I narrowed my eyes slightly.

The clear white curtains I used to open every morning weren't there anymore, as well as the clean bedside table that held my phone. The clean ivory walls were replaced with wood, and the soft, bouncy bed became a cheap, rough bed.

Everything around me was extremely musty, reminding me of my original objective.

'I need to run away, quickly.' I hardened my expression.

....What? Did you think I could handle this filthy-ass house?! I'm gonna get sick at this point!

The wooden house we were currently staying in was even filthier than my apartment's previous condition. Mouldy walls, mouldy floors, mouldy windows... Mouldy everything!

Even the bed I was sleeping on was mouldy! No wonder that stoic stone wall said he wanted to explore the city last night...

I gritted my teeth in anger. And guess what? I can't even shower. You know why?

....

Your answer is correct. It's because even the bathroom is mouldy. Even worse, it was the mouldiest of them all.

'If there was a clean table in this house, I would have flipped it out of anger.' I clenched my fists tightly. That weird transmigrator isn't even here anyway, why don't I just run away?

I widened my eyes in realization.

'Wait a minute...'

The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with myself.

"...You know what? Let's just run away!"

"...Chirp!!!"

I yelled out excitedly, accidentally waking up Goldie who was having a sweet dream full of corn, its favourite food.

"Ah..."

I turned my head to the fuming little bird. It was kind of cute, to be honest. 

"Sorry, Goldie..." 

I sheepishly apologized as I patted the tiny bird's head with a finger, lulling it to sleep. Soon after, it quietly sat down with its wings relaxed, satisfied with my small service.

I smiled gently at its reaction. Aaaa, I think I'm about to get a nosebleed...

"Pff..."

I quickly suppressed my chuckle, not wanting to wake up the little bird who had already went back to sleep. 

'Alright, let's...'

Before I could even think of a solid plan to run away, a robotic voice suddenly emerged out of nowhere.

[Dear Host, you cannot run away right now! That interesting human is in danger!]

I flinched at the unexpected voice before calmly speaking,

"Don't scare me like that... And what did you say? Him? In danger?"

I raised my brow slightly with a doubtful expression. You're telling me that the transmigrator who can summon a dimensional space, run at supersonic speed and heal my nausea within a second is in danger? Ha-ha-ha. Come up with a better joke next time.

[I'm not joking! Some weird group is trying to recruit him. Quick, don't let them!]

"...." What is with this weird system?

"...So? Even if they were bad, your interesting human can beat them up anyway." 

I tilted my head slightly.

[You don't get it! I want to watch the interesting human for a bit more! I can't let him get taken away by some random group!]

"...???" 

What the heck? It's not even my job to save your interesting human! You told me you were going to give me a peaceful life, was it all a lie?

"...No." I bluntly replied with no remorse in my expression.

'If I just leave him with them, I'll be free from this babysitting!' Meanwhile, I was happily rejoicing inside my mind. I absolutely can't let go of an opportunity like this.

[...Dear Host, please?]

"No."

Like a stable tree on a stormy day, I continuously refused the system's countless offers.

[I won't slander you for a week!] 

"No." Only for a week? Pathetic.

[...I'll give you a cool skill!]

"No." I already have my memories, what's there to worry about?

[Next time, when you use a memory, I won't give you any nightmares!]

"No." I'm used to them.

[....]

The system went silent, defeated by my indestructible tower of determination.

"Is that all you can offer?" 

I scoffed with pride. It feels satisfying to have finally taken revenge on this snobby system.

[...I'll let you call me Popo.]

"No." I immediately answered with a smile. I'm sorry Popo, but priorities come first.

[....]

The blue screen silently displayed "...." for a few minutes before finally talking again,

[I'll let you use two memories at once.]

"....Oh?"

My eyes widened at his offer. With this, my indestructible tower of determination started to shake slightly.

[...Three memories! Three!]

"Hm... No." I replied, pretending to be disinterested. If I keep this up, he'll give me something even better...

[Fine! I'll lower your cooldown to 5 hours!]

"....."

I was startled by his absurd offer. 5 hours? Sounds great... But... I'm afraid I'm much greedier than that.

"No."

I brightly smiled, irritating the blue screen.

[...3 hours!]

"Too high." 

[...2.5 hours!]

"1 hour."

[2 hours!]

"1 hour."

[...Okay. 1 hour.]

Making use of the system's desperateness, I successfully lowered my cooldown to 1 hour. Shocking improvement, right?

Originally, I just wanted to make it give up. But now, considering that I can level up my abilities this way... If Mr. Transmigrator were to be in "danger" once again, I can vacuum out the system for some upgrades... Or maybe even items...

I inwardly snickered at the evil thought before replying to the blue screen with an expressionless "fine".

My indestructible tower of determination had fallen, but a new one had risen. The tower of scamming.
 
[...Good! Now, hurry up! Hurry up and save him!]

The robotic voice shouted, realizing that it had wasted time trying to bargain with its master.

"...Pfft. Okay." Save? Haha, good one. I'm pretty sure I'm the damsel in distress here.

***

"Who are you?"

Rai hissed at the four strange people who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Teleportation...? Most likely. He thought within a nanosecond.

"...Please, relax." 

The muscular man, who was in the center of the group put his hands up in surrender, but that only made Rai tense up even more.

If this world was still in a state of ruin... It could only mean one thing. 

Rai had learned a bit about the world he was currently in.

First, the cities were completely ruined. Second, he hasn't found a civilized nation yet. 

Even if 30 years had passed after the apocalypse, there was no knowing whether the world had recovered to its previous condition or not.

The theory he believed in was that the world was still in a state of ruin. That no one hasn't built a modern society yet. He was oh-so-wrong, and thought that Johan was kicked out from an evacuation base, forcing him to quickly adapt to his "dangerous" surroundings,  resulting in his fake happy facade.

He scowled at the four strangers in front of him.

They could be bad news... Who knows? They could be from the same evacuation base... He (foolishly) thought.

Doubtful of their intentions, he inaudibly mumbled under his breath,

"[Lie Detector]." 

Lie Detector. A useful skill he used a lot in his previous life. It could detect a lie once said. If it was the truth, Rai would feel safer. If not, he would feel as if he was in danger.

A simple, yet effective skill. That's exactly why it was deemed to be S-Rank.

"...What are your names?"

Rai cautiously asked the four strangers, taking a step back.

"...."

The four strangers, who noticed his clear distrust started introducing themselves one after another.

"My name is Jefferson Quales." The muscular man spoke first, followed by the blonde woman.

"I am Alice Genevieve."

"Corina Keith." The brown-haired woman spoke after.

"...And I'm Ian. Ian Wintree." 

The tangerine-haired man spoke last.

"...." They're all saying the truth. Rai frowned as he felt his shoulders start to relax. But, he couldn't let his guard down right now. Names were irrelevant anyway.

"Do you have ill intentions?"

"No." 

Jefferson immediately replied in a confident tone.

"....."

Surprisingly, they were saying the truth.

...But that doesn't explain why they were here, in the middle of nowhere. Rai narrowed his cautious eyes, intensely glaring at the group.

"What brings you here?"

"We were sent to recruit someone from Tuver City, but our teleportation pad glitched and now we're here." 

The half-cyborg sighed lightly. 

"...Tuver City?" He wrinkled his brows in confusion.

"Yes. Fortunately, it's just up north from here." 

Jefferson shifted his head towards the right, where the dark forest lay peacefully.

That's where we came from... Rai slightly widened his eyes.

If Tuver City was up north, then... That would be the city we came from.

"...Why would you go to that dangerous place?" 

He asked in a wary tone. They must have some kind of hidden motive... He thought.

"....Dangerous?" The brown-haired woman raised her brow slightly, seemingly finding his statement to be ridiculous.

"Yes. That---" 

Before Rai could explain anything at all, a sudden shout from behind interrupted him.

"Rai!!!"

"....?"

Rai turned his head to the out-of-breath blonde young man running his way.

"....Johan?" 

He mumbled quietly in surprise.