I asked, "Who's this 'we'?"
His face and Elena's stiffened at the same moment.
Elena said, "Lea, don't get the wrong idea. We were going to come find you the second we finished cashing in the rewards."
"It's my fault. I wanted it to be a surprise."
"I didn't think about how you'd feel. Are you angry?"
Arthur's face darkened. "Why are you apologizing to her?"
I nodded like I agreed. "Right. Why are you apologizing to me?"
"Might as well just burn some funeral paper for me instead."
"You—!"
I spread my hands. "Didn't see that coming, did you? I had one point of HP left. I wasn't going to last. But I happened to be holding one very nice little item."
Arthur's disbelief was thick with rage.
"We had a stack of meds. We could've topped you right back up to a full hundred. What garbage are you spewing?"
I clapped and laughed.
"Yes, yes, we had so many meds."
I pointed at Elena. "Except the meds were all with her!"
I pointed at Arthur. "And she ran off with you!"
"You hear yourself yet?"
They both looked awkward, glanced at each other, then shifted their eyes away, uneasy.
I gave a cold laugh. These two didn't actually think I was shipping them, did they?
Things got a little awkward after that.
Arthur and Elena walked in front. I trailed behind.
The two of them had fought side by side countless times and cleared more high-level stages than they could count. They'd assumed a beginner mission was a sure thing. Both of them had badly underestimated what losing fifty percent of their talent points would do.
Not just stamina, endurance, defense, intelligence, luck—all slashed by half.
Even their starting HP was only fifty.
After one more hit from the flying small fry, another point gone, Arthur finally snapped.
"Aaaargh!"
"Leona!"
"I should've just let you die in that stage!"
Elena had stopped bothering with pretty words too. She agreed with him.
My blade came down, and I took the head off a small monster trying to sneak up on me.
"Finally saying what you really think?"
Arthur's pupils quaked.
"Why isn't your agility affected?"
Because I'd made a deal with the devil, of course. In exchange for never being able to leave the game for the rest of my life, I got to ignore the item's downside.
I gave a slight smile.
"Secret."
The moment I said it, both their expressions twisted for an instant.
What followed was jealousy and resentment they couldn't hide.
They couldn't stand it—that the person who'd dragged them back down to hell hadn't been touched, and was now standing above them.
In that one shared glance, they'd already made their decision.
The same sly curl at the corners of their mouths.
Every time they wanted to hurt someone, or seize someone else's item, they always fell into this same silent, practiced move.
The habit probably went back to a stage a long time ago: the mirror stage.
It was a stage that only allowed teams of two, and the two of them used the bonding item at the same moment.
Back then, I'd thought that one was my boyfriend and one was my best friend, and both of them would want to pick me.
I didn't know how the stage would make its choice. I only worried for whoever would be left out.
I never imagined the one left out would be me.
