I Reject Quests

Svety looked back and forth from the paper to Rewen's face. There was not a single thing she could deduce from his facial expressions. Unlike her, he did not show any shock or panic. 'He's too calm. Could it be that he had predicted this?' 

She wanted to confirm her suspicions so she pushed his shoulder. "Rewen, you have to help me."

Rewen tilted his head. "How do you know you have the explosive inside you?"

"I was reading some books when I suddenly collapsed. Next thing I found was this letter." She then went on to undress. When she had her undergarments on, she pressed on her belly. A red light engulfed the entire area below her chest and above her lower abdomen. 

Rewen sighed. "I didn't tell you to not to follow me for no reason." His voice sounded nonchalant but Svety could tell that he was really angry. 

Svety herself couldn't keep her calm when she heard him say this. She never expected that he would find fault in her because the entire thing stemmed from him. Gritting her teeth, she opened her mouth. "Rewe-" Only to be interrupted.

"I won't bother to deal with this crap. You came prepared, right? Yeah, just leave the city." Rewen directly said. 

Svety froze. Moments later, she tried to push Rewen but failed. "Are you fucking serious!? No, I'm not leaving this city!"

"Fine. Don't leave. Let the city go down with you. Do what you want. I don't even care anymore." 

Svety calmed down a bit but her eyelids fluttered. She could not imagine dying just like this. "You could try to beat the men that come after you."

"Sure and die trying. Do you even have any idea of what you are saying?"

"I know. You can fight Rank 2 on an equal footing."

"The one I fought wasn't even a Primary Rank 2. At most, she is just a stronger Rank 1. There's a big load of differences between her and actual Rank 2. And not to mention, there's also supposed to be Rank 3. Alright fine, tell me this. Even if I did manage to miraculously defeat Rank 2s, do you actually fucking believe that I could defeat the Rank 3?"

"Yes… you can." Svety sluggishly looked at Rewen and put her arms around his head.

"Use your head, not your feelings. Don't hold anything against me. I'm only doing what's the most logical course of action. Call me an irresponsible jerk, bastard or anything you like but if I act, it would get worse."

"N-no. No. No. No! I don't want to die! Please help me…" Holding him tight, she said in a hoarse tone. Tears started to flow from her eyes. She couldn't hold back any longer.

Rewen couldn't deny that he still hated the girl embracing him for what she did but even he himself felt that he was a real bastard for dragging an innocent into what he was doing. Putting her back, he brought her face closer to his. 'No matter what. She is still the girl I had the closest relationship with. Am I actually doing the right thing?' To this question, he knows the answer. 'It isn't right but I have to keep moving forward.' 

'What would I do if she died? Is it my obligation to take revenge for her? No. I'm not the kind of person to seek for revenge. It hurts to think this but I'll probably lament over myself for a day or two and get over it. I'm a simple man from the village. To think that I was proud relying on the system.

'If I could have helped, I would have - this is a lie. I have the system. The system would definitely not give a quest that I could not complete. Along the road, I'm positive the rewards would increase. The only reason I'm not taking things into my own hands is because I'm afraid for my life. Also, it would be good if I don't have to deal with the relationship drama once she is gone.

'I better stop. I might begin to hate myself if I continue. Seriously, why did I not realize that I am this ugly? Guess it's true that humans show their true self when their lives are in danger.'

Svety was at a loss when she saw the face in front of her staring at her firmly without blinking. Without any reason, droplets of tears again started pouring from her red eyes. "Why are you so indifferent to me for a while?" Sobbing, she asked the question she had been meaning to.

"You really don't know?"She asked. Her voice was soft. After that, she fell into his chest.

Svety shook her head. 

"Why did you not report my state when you found out that I have interference?"

"I didn't know that you have interference…"

"Don't make me look down on you anymore. You hadn't confirmed it but did you truly not never think of me having interference?"

"..."

"You did, right?" Rewen asked with a voice as gentle as possible.

Svety nodded her head timidly.

"SO WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HIDE THE MATTER FROM OTHERS!?" All of a sudden, Rewen pushed her down with his body on top of her. 

From the sudden outburst, Svety was shaken. She hadn't imagined that he would be this angry. She wanted to struggle but seeing the look in his eyes, her last bit of strength was gone. "Let me go. I'm sorry." 

"What if I tell you sorry after I do all the things you did to me? Three years ago, when I found out that you deceived me, what did you do? Do you remember? You did the same thing over again like one time wasn't enough. You very well knew that my state of mind wasn't right and I couldn't muster up the courage to be against you, no, against the entire class. When I was getting bullied by my classmates because I did some things due to the influence of interference, did you stop them? You stood there and chatted with your friends without any care for me. I could list off more than ten incidents that I vividly remember were directly or indirectly related to you. My state of mind got worse and worse every single day. If it weren't for my middle school friends, I would be in the mental asylum. Not right here.

"After all this, you still think I should let you go with a sorry. Not to mention, you have the nerve to ask for my help?"

Svety's eyes widened by his words and was tongue-tied. She closed her eyes. "Okay. I'll just die. Let me go." 

"Yeah, and blow up the city in the process."

"What do you want me to do?" Unlike the Svety from seconds ago who was emotional, the current Svety was emotionless. "All you do is grumble about what happened in the past. Oh cry me a river. You are weak. Interference is an excuse. You can't fight against your classmates because you were weak. To think you wanted me to save you, are you for real? Know your place."

Rewen released her hands but was still on top of her. Not saying anything, he grabbed her cheeks and squeezed. 

"Wab ah you doiing?" 

He kept squeezing her cheeks. A tear slowly slid down her eyes. "You might not know me the best but I know you the best." 

After he released her cheeks, Svety covered her eyes with her hand. With her teeth biting her lips, it was very clear what she was doing. 

"The reason you hid the fact that I had interference was because you didn't want me to go far from you. It was selfish to the core. You didn't do anything to stop me from getting bullied because you wanted me to fight back on my own. It was absurd and stupid. There were many times you used your manipulation to have your ways around me. It was scummy. Despite that, it seems that I'm not heartless enough to continue hating someone who genuinely cares about me." Rewen said what was in his mind. 'Damnit. So corny. I'm not saying things like this again.' 

While he was praising himself for saying what he said with a straight face, Svety's mind was in a complicated mess. 

A minute later, Svety removed her hand from her eyes and saw Rewen sitting beside her. "You can read me like an open book, huh?"

"Not really."

"Is that so? Say, do you want to break up with me for real?"

"I do."

"Then let's break up." Svety said without any hesitation. She took out her text and typed something. Seconds later, she showed him what she wrote.

-> There is a tracker inside me. So if we go anywhere, X will be alerted. What is the plan?

"There is no plan. I'll fight the men sent by him head on. Earlier I said I won't out of rage but I couldn't endanger the lives of people because of my own decisions. It seems like an elaborate suicide but it's not. I have got my plans."