At the boy's innocent questions upon waking, Jung Youngho laughed, as if finding the situation ridiculous. With bewilderment in their brown eyes, the boy tilted his head this-way-and-that, trying to make sense of why the person currently holding him was laughing at his questions.

Jung Youngho was perhaps wondering to himself, 'how could it be, him being alive?', yet he still held a hidden hope in his heart.

"Um..." Wetting his lips, the boy attempted to sound out Jung Youngho's intentions, "Was it something I said?"

Having laughed for a while, tears had formed at the corners of Jung Youngho's eyes as he replied, "Yes, it was very funny."

At Jung Youngho's words, the boy grew even more confused, until Jung Youngho pinched the boy's nose affectionately.

"L-let go!"

Finally, the boy began to struggle against Jung Youngho, pushing away at him using his hands, and twisting his torso. However, during his struggle, he witnessed Elki's corpse on the ground, and the copious amount of blood oozing out of the carcass of another world's being. The boy's face paled, and he stopped struggling, the tips of his fingers trembling.

With swift actions, Jung Youngho turned the boy's head and buried it into the crook of his neck, patting the boy's back soothingly. This time, the boy didn't struggle against Jung Youngho's actions.

Selena, expression still grim, stood up from her position as she examined the scenario window for herself.

With an uncharacteristically chilly aura, Selena stalked closer to Jung Youngho, passing me by. Getting a premonition of a bad feeling, I quickly slid close to the three.

"He's suspicious, you know? Please hand him to me so I can keep an eye on him." Selena stretched out her hand, asking for Jung Youngho's permission.

It appeared she also had the translator's skill.

"What do you mean he is suspicious?" Jung Youngho growled, pulling the boy closer to himself as he grew wary of Selena.

"Didn't you also notice? Just as the scenario was issued, this kid woke up. Isn't it hinting at something?" Selena narrowed her eyes, and a thin streak of lightning passed by her pupils.

"How preposterous! Just because it was coincidentally at the same time, you're suddenly accusing people? That's not sound evidence!" Jung Youngho shouted.

He was right. It wasn't time to jump to conclusions just yet.

"That's why I'm only going to keep an eye on him. He's only a suspect at this point, but if I find more suspicious points, then I will come to a conclusion after careful thought."

"F*ck, if he's a suspect, then I can be a suspect too!" Jung Youngho was losing himself to anger.

"I'm respecting you because I see you as an ally too. But if you refuse to hand him over, I'm going to resort to force."

This really didn't sound like the Selena I knew.

"Then let me watch him instead!"

Selena shook her head, "No, I can tell you have a lot of attachment to that kid. That's why, I can't leave him with you."

With those words, Selena reached her hand out once more to grab onto the boy. Although the boy couldn't understand Selena's words, he could still sense the bad intentions of the lady before him, along with the context with Jung Youngho words. Added to the blood still coating Selena's clothes and drying around her mouth, she painted a very scary picture.

The boy's pupils constricted as he grabbed onto Jung Youngho's lapels tightly.

"No!" The boy screamed.

The next moment, Jung Youngho's sword appeared in his hand as he slashed out toward Selena. With a quick reaction, Selena jumped back to avoid it.

"Don't come any closer, witch." Jung Youngho spat, pointing the sword at Selena.

The situation was escalating too quickly.

To my understanding, Selena had always been a kind soul. If Anna Croft had worked in the notion of the 'larger good', then Selena represented a willfulness to help the 'lesser good', or the 'individuals' instead of the 'collective'.

Because deep down, she was also an irrationally emotional human.

"Do you understand what you are doing? You are endangering everyone else if that kid turns out to be the disaster." Selena's eyes narrowed.

That was why, I couldn't believe my eyes when she was ready to potentially sacrifice an 'individual' for the 'collective'.

"Very well then." Selena crouched down, ready to engage in battle.

Finally snapping out of it, I stepped in-between the rising tension.

"Wait!"

Both Jung Youngho and Selena stilled at my actions.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked Selena.

"Didn't I explain it already? He is a potentially dangerous threat to all our lives." Selena's cold answer came.

I didn't know why, but I felt like going berserk at Selena's current conduct.

"But isn't what you're doing going against everything you've done so far?!" I shouted.

"What does-"

"The Selena I met was kind and sympathetic toward everyone. That's what I admired about you the most. But now you're going against your own moral code!"

Selena's eyes stared deep into mine, "It was because I was indecisive up until now that everyone died. Didn't you tell me to take actions that I won’t look back and regret later on? I am taking your advice."

"That wasn't what I meant...!" I cried out in frustration.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant, I mean, what I really meant about not regretting...well I mean, it is as you said, but not this way-" I stammered, trying to come up with words to explain, but they floated away from my blank mind.

What was I even doing?

Seeing that I didn't have a concrete answer, Selena was becoming impatient, her nails digging into the palm of her hands, "Get out of the way, when I'm still being nice. I know you did a lot for Anna, so I don't want to fight you either."

I could tell Selena was still mentally affected greatly from prior events, but I wasn't sure if I could attribute her change to being unstable.

Was it really because of my words that she changed? My chest felt tight.

No, I was being conceited. Only Selena could change herself, regardless of what others say. Still, I still affected her. So to say, part of why she changed was my responsibility.

I couldn't run from that.

But do I deserve to have said all those things earlier? About how Selena should be, how I saw her as? Kind and altruistic?

If so, do I deserve to stop her?

…

I screwed up again, didn't I?

A wave of self-loathing floated over me, despite it being inappropriate to the situation.

Through the tangle of complicated thoughts and emotions, I suddenly asked myself. Through it all, does my self-suffering boil down to anything?

At that thought, my emotions fizzled out.

Oh.

"This is my last warning. Get out of the way."

Selena and Jung Youngho readied themselves again. Even while I was caught up with my stampeding thoughts, the world continued to run.

「I'm a coward. It's true. 」

I recalled my words.

"First of all, let's stop here." I restored my peace with these very words, "I think you need to take some time to calm down, Selena. Also you too, Jung Youngho-ahjussi."

"When we are worked up, we grow narrow-minded." Continuing on, I stood in the middle, looking at both Selena and Jung Youngho. "I'll keep a look on the boy. I'm looking for more guides to learn more about the 'disaster' anyway, so if anything is suspicious, I'll know. By the way, would you know where any other guides would be, Selena?"

It was a lie to say I didn't know where the other guides were, as Carus only sensed two other guides who had crossed over as he had, but I tried to divert their attention to a different subject.

Since, I was doing what a coward did best.

Running away.

"No I don't..." Selena replied, led astray, "But no wait, are you stopping me?"

"Shouldn't you go back and check with Anna first? She told you to go back first thing after you learned the guide's skill, right? Oh, and I almost forgot. If Iris is awake when you get there, tell her that 'Warrior Carus' is still waiting for her to return to her training."

Selena continued to look unsatisfied.

"Look," I sighed, "Can you trust me?"

Selena glanced at me speechlessly, but still hesitantly nodded in the end.

"Then let me look after the boy. I know you care a lot for the people close to you. I really do. But just leave this one to us. If you're so concerned, ask for my location through Anna at any time. You can keep tabs on us from time to time."

"You won't lie about your location?"

"Did you forget about Anna's [Lie detection] skill?" I wryly smiled.

"Ah!" Realization lit up in Selena's eyes.

"But..." Selena was still looking in Jung Youngho's direction.

"Selena, please." I begged as my last resort.

As if seeing something in my eyes, Selena began to waver. Her features softened, and for the first time in this conversation, Selena returned to the Selena that I knew.

"Alright."

Her aggressive stance faded away, and she addressed our group as a whole with her translator skill, "I'll leave the suspect to you."

The words when she spoke them out were not easy ones, as I could tell from her body language that she was still finding the whole thing iffy. She was probably questioning if the decision of letting the boy go to us was something she wouldn't regret, as was her newly written creed.

Then, with Jung Youngho still on high alert, he watched on as Selena passed by, wading into the grassy distance, until her figure finally disappeared over the distance.

However, I didn't miss how Selena's shoulders shook. No matter what, Selena was not going to recover from her emotional wounds that easily.

"By the way, what did you guys talk about? How come she suddenly stopped?" Jung Youngho interjected, after noticing that our conversation had been in English.

"I was negotiating." I quipped back.

"What negotiating?! We should have just hacked her up!"

I ignored Jung Youngho's shout.

"D*mn it, that b*tch made me so mad!"

"Language, Jung Youngho-ahjussi. We still have a young kid with us."

"Oh sh-" Jung Youngho stopped himself in time. "You're right."

Jung Youngho then began to coax the boy who had hidden himself tightly in his arms.

"It's alright now, the scary lady is gone. Ahjussi protected you."

"...Really? She's gone?"

"Yes, see for yourself..."

The conversation between the two drifted out of my ears.

To be honest, despite telling myself that my self-inflicted suffering earlier essentially meant nothing, humans were fickle.

It was at times like these that I wished I had the stigma [Self-rationalization] that Kim Dokja got when he overcame one of his traumas, or his [Fourth Wall].

But it'll be okay.

It'll eventually go away. Humans continuously self-adjusted.

Although there was a breaking point, what I had was a long ways from that. What I had was insignificant in comparison to what Selena must be facing.

['Sorrowful Heart of Silver' is wondering if you are okay.]

I tilted my head upward and gave the watching 'constellation' (outer god) a reassuring smile, "I'm doing great, don't worry."

[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter' asks what you plan to do with that boy.]

Looking back at Jung Youngho and the boy, I also found myself at a loss.

Come to think of it, how come no dokkaebi has come to visit me or Jung Youngho yet, as we're foreign incarnations? What channel are we in anyway so that 'Sorrowful Heart of Silver' and 'Secretive Plotter' can watch us? I thought, irrelevant to the issue at hand.

A/N: Brain dead. Just update. I want to get through this arc alreaddddyyyy!

(I thought my fanfic will just take half of the chapters of what ORV is, i.e., ~250 chapters, but I don't think that's going to happen at this pace)