Sara looked at the ticket in Noah's hand with a calculated look on her face. She was willing to do anything to get her hands on that ticket. But the only problem was - how to close the distance between herself and Noah.

Even if the man agreed to give Sara the ticket for free, Sara could not help but feel like he had ulterior motives. And for that reason, Sara was not able to trust Noah completely.

"Oh, so you also found a ticket? But are you sure you want to give it to Sara? She is your competition after all. And I thought you did not like her."

Surprisingly, it was Amelia who asked this question. 

Amelia's face was blank but her eyes questioned Keith's behavior. But in the end, Amelia had no right to say anything because it was not her ticket and Keith was not her person as well.

"I feel like it is the right decision to give this ticket to Sara. If I do not hand this ticket over, then someone random would be selected to participate in the next round."

Both Sara and Amelia understood what Keith wanted to say. Sara's expression soured even more once she heard Keith's reasons.

However, she also knew she needed to keep quiet if she wanted to gain his favor and the ticket.

[Hello everyone. The time limit for this round is up. Those who found your tickets, please head out and give them to me. Those who were unable to find a ticket, please wait for me on the other side of the forest.]

The white-masked man's voice rang through the forest. Sara panicked as soon as the map for the forest appeared on her screen.

Her inability to find a ticket in time had marked her as someone who 'lost' this round and now she was being asked to assemble on the other side.

"Hurry up and give me the ticket. I cannot wait around any more."

Sara whispered-yelled as she snatched the ticket out of Keith's hands. Once she had the ticket, she ran toward the white-masked man as fast as she could.

She was almost there when Sara felt someone pick her up by the back of her clothes. Her foot no longer touched the ground and that made Sara unable to think for a solid minute.

By the time her senses started working again, she was face-to-face with one of the scariest-looking faces she had ever seen in her life.

"Ya girly, I can see that you have a ticket with ya. Now, why don'tcha gimme ya ticket?"

The well-packed man had a way with words. And by that, Sara meant that he was really scared when he asked Sara to hand her ticket over.

Sara's grip tightened over her ticket instantly. She was not going to risk losing this ticket.

"No way. You are not going to get this ticket from me. You should have found your own if you are so desperate for it."

Sara yelled back and then flinched as the well-built man punched the tree adjacent to her location. It broke apart with a single punch from this huge man.

"Do not try and act cocky with me, child. If ya know what is good for you, then ya will hand the ticket over."

The man threatened with serious eyes this time. Whatever compassion he had felt for Sara's young age had bled out of his system a long time ago. 

Now, the only annoyance was left inside him as he looked at Sara's scared expression. He could easily break her if he wanted to.

"Ugh, that will be a little difficult for me to do. But I can always make you drop me."

Sara spoke before she attacked her attacker's eyes. It was a cowardly move and even a well-trained body could not avoid the sudden attack. 

Sara made use of this distraction to pick herself up again and began to run. She was going to reach her destination before she would be caught again.

"You bitch. How dare you attack me like that."

The man roared as he followed Sara. His huge and bulging body became a hindrance once the forest became harder to navigate. Meanwhile, Sara was agile and easily managed to get past the obstacles.

Soon, the silhouette of the white-masked man would be seen. And Sara raised her hand to attract his attention.

"Hey, mister white-masked man, I am here. And I also have my ticket."

Sara was lucky that there was no one else around the white-masked man right now. She somehow managed to make it into the safe zone before she was caught.

She looked behind at her attacker and the well-built man looked pissed. Some kind of barrier seemed to be separating him and Sara right now.

"You! You will not get away with this trick, kid."

The man yelled but he was unable to touch Sara.

"Give it up, old man. I won this ticket fair and square. If you wanted a ticket so badly, then you should have gone out and searched for one yourself."

Sara yelled back, now confident, and happy to be safe. 

She was also more comfortable saying all this because she knew she would not be seeing this man again. He did not have a ticket but Sara did. And in the grand scheme of things, it mattered to her.

"You should not pick fights you cannot win, little one. What would happen to you if this man somehow got lucky and got one of the spot tickets?"

Sara jumped and her heart thundered inside her chest when she heard that soft voice. She quickly turned around, only to notice that the white-masked man was standing behind her now.

Sara had not even heard that man walk, much less seen him approach Sara.

"W-What do you mean? You will only choose worthy people for the next round, right? And this man was unable to snatch a ticket from a kid like me. So how is he worthy?"

Sara spoke these words with utter confidence.

She knew that she would suffer if this man somehow made it to the next round, but she wanted to believe that would not happen.

"Hmm, worthy? I never said that the people selected for the next round would be worthy. They only need to be lucky in the draw."

The white-masked man spoke and Sara's expression paled. She resembled a ghost with her white paper-like complexion and her shaking fingers.

"Y-You must be joking."

Sara tried to deny what she had just heard. But the white-masked man did not elaborate for her. He just held his hand out for Sara to drop the ticket she had.

Then, the white-masked man looked it up and down carefully.

"Hmm, you might have completed the objective for this round, kid. But are you sure you want to participate in the next round? As far as I am concerned, you were not the one who found this ticket. Nor were you the one to go through a trail."

The white-masked man was questioning Sara's qualifications now. And somehow, that was what irritated Sara the most. This man had no right to interfere in her affairs.

"Hey, that is not fair. I got this ticket on my own merits. Didn't you just say that luck is a part of one's skills? Surely it will not matter how I got this ticket."

Sara questioned back and the white-masked man shook his head. That was not what he had been talking about.

But he also realized that the girl in front of him would only listen to him if it benefited her. She was unwilling to hear anything else.

"Alright. Since you have the ticket with you and you want to participate in the next round, I will not stop you. May you have a successful run of the third round."

The white-masked man took the ticket and entered Sara into the competition. The child huffed but she was happy to finally be in the last round. 

With this, she was close to her goal of receiving a hefty prize and changing her life for the better.

Once Sara left the clearing, the white-masked man could not help but shake his head. Human greed was surely something else. And it seemed like even kids were not immune to this.

On the other side of his barrier, the well-built man who had chased Sara laughed out.

"That child is a greedy one. But she has no idea what she is signing up for, right? And ya did not bother to inform her either. Ya are a cruel man."

The white-masked man looked at the only person left in the clearing with him. The white-masked man could not deny the accusations that he was cruel.

But since he was not human, these words did not hurt him. They only amused him more.

"Well, don't you have to go and try for the extra chance now? Surely standing here and taunting me is not a good strategy?"

The white-masked man asked. But the well-built man just smiled.